Tether Becomes Top Treasury Buyer

Tether, the company behind the world's largest stablecoin USDT, is quietly becoming one of the most important buyers of US government debt. With over $122 billion in direct Treasury bill holdings and a total exposure exceeding $141 billion when indirect positions are included, Tether has already outpaced several sovereign nations in its appetite for American paper.

Every USDT token in circulation needs to be backed by reserves, and Tether has chosen to park the vast majority of those reserves, roughly 83%, in US Treasury bills. As USDT's market cap has ballooned to approximately $185 billion, the company has been forced to hoover up T-bills at a pace that would make most central banks raise an eyebrow.

Tether made net Treasury purchases of $33.1 billion in 2024, ranking it seventh among all foreign buyers of US debt. In 2025, the figure came in at $28.2 billion, again landing in seventh place globally.