Stablecoin issuer giant Tether reportedly owns almost 80 tons gold that backs its assets. The gold stockpile is kept in a vault in Switzerland in an undisclosed location for security reasons.
According to a recent report by Bloomberg, Chief Executive Paolo Ardoino said that the pile of gold is worth $8 billion. He claimed that the gold is kept in a facility that is the most “most secure vault in the world.”
Although, the company would not reveal its location for security reasons. Ardoino also declined to disclose when the vault was establish. The only detail he unveiled was that the vault is based somewhere in Switzerland.
At the moment, the USDT (USDT) stablecoin issuer Tether holds nearly 80 tons of gold, with most of it being owned directly by the company. The amount is almost equal to the total value of metals and other commodities held by UBS Group. This large stockpile makes Tether one of the largest gold holders in the world outside of banks and nation states.
Ardoino acknowledged the rise in safe haven assets especially gold compared to fiat currency in his interview with Bloomberg. He said the decision to have their own vault instead of paying vault operators was driven by the rising cost of the asset.
“Gold, I think should be logically a safer asset than any national currency. So eventually, I think that if people start to get concerned about the potential increase of the debt of United States, they might look at alternatives,” said Ardoino.
According to the data from Trading Economics, gold has rallied as much as 38.5% in the past year. It also reached a new all-time high at $3,390 on April 21. At press time, it sits at a value of $3,289. Gold is often used as a hedge by investors against inflation, much like how Bitcoin (BTC) is viewed the same way.
“Every single central bank in the BRICS countries is buying gold, so that is why gold price went up in our opinion,” he said.
Earlier in April, the stablecoin giant issued 7.7 tons of physical gold to back its digital asset Tether Gold or XAUT (XAUT), which currently holds pure gold as a reserve backing on a 1:1 ratio. At press time, XAUT’s market cap stands at more than $811 million.
