USDT stablecoin issuer Tether has expanded its Bitcoin holdings by acquiring 7,629 BTC worth approximately $705 million, according to on-chain data from Arkham Intelligence.
The purchase increases Tether’s Bitcoin holdings to 82,983 BTC, which is worth approximately $7.68 billion at the time of writing. Based on data from Bitinfocharts, the company is now the sixth largest Bitcoin holder in the world.
The purchase is part of Tether’s strategy to spend 15% of its profits on acquiring more Bitcoin, a plan first announced in May 2023.
Since then, the company has consistently grown its Bitcoin holdings every quarter as part of efforts to diversify its reserves, which include gold, cash equivalents and other short-term investments.
MiCA FUD
Tether’s latest acquisition comes as its flagship stablecoin, USDT, faces regulatory pressure in the European Union.
These rules impose strict requirements on stablecoin issuers, including a controversial 30% reserve mandate at traditional financial institutions.
Quinten François, co-founder of WeRate, argued that this requirement undermines operational efficiency by limiting the flexibility to generate income from assets such as US Treasuries, which is a cornerstone of Tether’s income strategy.
François also noted that this requirement could hinder Tether’s ability to use its profits to strengthen its reserves and reduce its dependence on traditional financial systems.
Furthermore, regulatory experts such as Jonathan Galea of BCAS IO have clarified that stablecoins such as USDT, which are not actively marketed in the EU, may not require MiCA authorization.
Galea suggested that compliance concerns may be overstated because trading platforms can list these assets without a direct request from the issuer. He stated:
“USDt is not the only stablecoin not offered to the public in the Union. There are many other stablecoins whose issuers do not need to be authorized under MiCA – just because someone is not authorized in accordance with a specific law does not mean that he or she is not in compliance with that law.”
Meanwhile, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has urged the community to ignore the FUD surrounding USDT digital assets, stating that:
“USDT is safe… Competitors would like to make you believe things that don’t exist.”