Tether's Q2 Report Shows Significant Drop in Reserve Buffer, Missing $5.6 Billion

Tether, a leading stablecoin issuer, has released its Q2 2026 attestation report, revealing $1.5 billion in operating profit and a reserve buffer of $4.11 billion.

This marks a significant drop from the previous quarter's buffer size of $8.2 billion, raising questions about where the missing $5.6 billion went.

The company's decision to headline its report with operating profit rather than net profit has also been scrutinized, as it excludes marking the value of its own holdings to market, such as Bitcoin and gold.

Tether's chief executive, Paolo Ardoino, framed the quarter as a stress test, stating that some reserve assets were directly hit while USDT remained fully backed with a surplus above $4.11 billion.