Tether earned around $1.5 billion in the second quarter, but its reserve cushion for USDT holders dropped sharply, closing June at $4.11 billion down from a record $8.23 billion earlier this year. The stablecoin issuer’s Q2 2026 attestation, published Friday and prepared by accounting firm BDO, confirms USDT remains overcollateralized but offers no clarity on where over $5 billion in surplus reserves disappeared.
On June 30, Tether’s total assets stood at $187.75 billion against liabilities of $183.64 billion, falling roughly $4 billion from $191.77 billion three months prior. Token liabilities remained mostly unchanged. Despite reporting a $1.5 billion net operating profit for the quarter, the net asset decline implies about $5.6 billion of unrealized losses or outflows. Tether entered April with approximately $20 billion in gold and $7 billion in Bitcoin, both volatile assets during the period.
Fading Transparency Raises Questions
Unlike Tether’s Q1 report, the latest attestation omits dollar values for critical asset classes. Gold is now only quantified by weight more than 146 tons without a stated dollar amount. Similarly, U.S. Treasury holdings are described as the majority of reserves but lack the $141 billion figure disclosed earlier. The company also dropped its previous claim that the reserve buffer alone would rank as the third-largest stablecoin by supply.
CEO Paolo Ardoino had emphasized transparency when the firm engaged a Big Four auditor in March, saying, “Trust is built when institutions are willing to open themselves fully to scrutiny.” Yet four months later, the audit remains incomplete, with no detailed breakdown released.
This article is for informational purposes and does not constitute financial advice.
