Paolo Ardoino Drops the Mic: Tether Never Sold Bitcoin!

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino: Gold, Land, and Bitcoin Drive Long-Term Goal

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino Clears the Air

Tether CEO has stepped in personally to deny swirling rumors. In a post on social platform X, he firmly stated that Tether “didn’t sell any Bitcoin.” Instead, he confirmed that the company continues to invest profits into BTC, gold, and land as part of its long-term strategy.

Source : X 

These rumors began when analyst Clive Thompson highlighted a drop in Bitcoin holdings from 92,650 tokens in Q1 2025 to 83,274 tokens in Q2, based on BDO attestation reports. Many rushed to assume company was offloading its cryptocurrency to pivot into gold.

Transfers, Not Sales – The Real Story

But Paolo Ardoino and others, such as Jan3 CEO Samson Mow, explained the details: the BTC drop was due to a strategic transfer—not a sale. Tether moved 19,800 coins to Twenty One Capital (XXI), including 14,000 coins in June and 5,800 tokens in July.

Taking these transfers into account, the firm's net Bitcoin holdings actually rose, not fell. If the transfer hadn’t happened, the firm would have had 4,624 BTC more than at the end of Q1.

Diversifying with Gold and Land

Besides reaffirming digital coin as a core holding, Paolo Ardoino made it clear that company is putting profits into other stable assets too. The company has amassed roughly $8.7 billion in yellow metal, stored in Zurich vaults nearly 80 tons of bullion.

This precious metal plays both a strategic and symbolic role. For him, golden metal is a trusted legacy asset. In addition, the company has explored investing across the gold supply chain from mining and refining to trading royalties.

A Strong Hoard of Bitcoin

The firm remains one of the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holders. Recent data shows the firm holds over 100,521 coins, valued at about $11.17 billion. Paolo Ardoino underscored Bitcoin's importance, describing it as the key pillar of Tether’s reserves. The firm also wants to support Bitcoin’s broader ecosystem, hence they move with storing coins. 

Final Thoughts

This episode shows how Paolo Ardoino navigates both market perception and real strategy. By moving digital assets, not selling them, and by diversifying into metal and land, he presents Tether as both forward-looking and rooted in hard value.

Amid global uncertainty, the company's mix of digital and traditional assets cryptocurrency for innovation, gold for legacy value, land for permanence speaks to a reserve model built for resilience.