Tether adds nearly $800 million in bitcoin, bringing holdings above 96,000 BTC

• Tether added 8,888.88 BTC to its treasury wallet as part of its Q4 2025 profit allocation.
• The purchase is part of Tether's strategy to use up to 15% of its quarterly profits for bitcoin acquisitions.
• Tether's approach allows it to diversify reserves without affecting the assets backing its stablecoin liabilities.

Tether began 2026 with adding 8,888.88 BTC to its treasury wallet as part of its Q4 2025 profit allocation, according to CEO Paolo Ardoino.

The transfer, worth roughly $780 million at current prices, reinforces a strategy that has quietly made the world’s largest stablecoin issuer one of bitcoin’s biggest corporate holders.

The purchase follows a policy Tether introduced in 2023 to allocate up to 15% of its realized quarterly operating profits to bitcoin purchases, effectively turning the company into a systematic accumulator rather than an opportunistic buyer.

These accumulations matter because Tether’s profits are directly tied to the cash-like assets backing USDT, primarily short-term U.S. Treasuries and repos. That means higher rates and strong demand for stablecoins can translate into more operating profit and, by extension, more bitcoin purchases.

Unlike corporate buyers that raise capital specifically to buy BTC, Tether’s approach is closer to an internal treasury strategy.

It uses excess earnings to diversify reserves without touching the assets backing its stablecoin liabilities, while still keeping the bulk of its backing in highly liquid instruments.

The timing is also notable. Bitcoin has struggled to sustain rallies into year-end, with liquidity thinning across venues and risk appetite uneven.

BTC was trading around $89,000 by mid-day Hong Kong time.

• KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
• This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
• Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
• Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
• Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.

• U.S.-listed spot ETFs experienced their worst two-month stretch on record through November-December, with net outflows totaling $4.57 billion.
• Bitcoin's price dropped 20% during this period, reflecting a decline in institutional interest.
• Ether ETFs lost over $2 billion.

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