Tether, Inc. turned into one of the biggest Bitcoin (BTC) whales, with over 100K coins in its reserves. The stablecoin issuer added another 8,888 BTC from Bitfinex to its treasury.Â
Tether, Inc. is not often mentioned as the carrier of a large-scale corporate treasury. However, it recently bought another 8,888 Bitcoin (BTC) from Bitfinex, raising its holdings to 100,521 BTC. The company added the new BTC holdings over the first three months of 2025, buying at several different price levels.Â
The total purchase was about $735.04M, as Tether added more than 26K BTC in the past year. The recent purchases made Tether uniquely positioned to benefit from the 2024 bull market. The stablecoin issuer has increased its wallet balance during local BTC lows, managing to achieve its low average purchase price.
Tether is not listed among the collection of corporate buyers, since it is not a publicly traded company. Its treasury is seen mostly as an extra reassurance for its stablecoin reserves.Â
The intention to purchase more BTC was announced close to two years ago. Tether has significant cash flows from its US T-bill holdings, which are not shared with users. The company announced it would use 15% of its profits. For the whole of 2024, the company reported over $13B in profits, suggesting a relatively large leeway for buying BTC. If it goes through with the plan, Tether may become a factor for purchasing BTC, comparable to Strategy or MARA Holdings.Â
So far, Tether has achieved a cost basis of $41,147, far below the current market rate. Based on previous purchases, the USDT issuer has an unrealized profit of $3.83B. The company’s close connection to Bitfinex may also allow the company to serve as a whale and buy during favorable market conditions or liquidations.Â
Tether enters the top 5 of BTC wallets
Currently, based on its public wallet, Tether would qualify for being the second-largest corporate holder after Strategy. The stablecoin issuer accrued BTC over the years, based on its partnerships with other crypto projects and from direct buying.Â
The recent additions were spread among multiple purchases, and were added to other signs of whale accumulation during BTC dips. Tether potentially acquired the coins from Bitfinex, becoming one of the whales to gain more BTC through trading. The latest on-chain move shows Tether withdrew the coins to add to its treasury, instead of having the funds sit on the exchange.Â
After the withdrawal, the Bitfinex cold wallet contains 150,010 BTC, becoming the second-largest single wallet. Tether’s main wallet is the fifth-largest holder among whales, with a total of 92,646.57 BTC held in a single address. The remaining BTC is held in smaller wallets, making up for a total balance of 100,521 BTC, based on Arkham Intelligence data.Â
In total, Tether, Inc. carries over $13.52B in crypto assets, in addition to cash and cash-like assets. The company now carries over 144B USDT, claiming backing by US T-bills and cash.Â
Long-term holders still control BTC
Despite the short-term fluctuations, BTC long-term holders remain an influential factor. The mix of old anonymous whales, corporate treasuries and miner reserves mean a large part of the BTC supply is still unavailable.Â
Long-term investors that held BTC 3 to 5 years ago only sold 3% of their long-term haul. All holders with wallets over 1 month of age are retaining or expanding their holdings.Â
Currently, over 2,040 holders have wallets containing over 1,000 BTC, with 92 large-scale whales holding over 10K BTC. Based on that metric, Tether, Inc. may be extremely influential on the BTC market.Â
Market entities with 1K-10K BTC in their balances are extremely active during volatile days for BTC. Those buyers make use of leveraged shakedowns to scoop up more coins. Those whales have not capitulated during the Q1 downturn and have continued their trading pattern from the bear market of 2020, shows data by Cryptoquant.
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