Benzinga - Tether’s (CRYPTO: USDT) fourth-quarter attestation report recorded significant profits, with a substantial portion coming from the company's gold and Bitcoin holdings. The stablecoin issuer is looking forward to a promising 2024.
What Happened: Tether reported a profit of $2.85 billion for the final quarter of 2023 for an annual profit of $6.2 billion, according to its fourth-quarter attestation report. Net operational profit from U.S. T-bill interests yielded $1 billion, with $1.85 billion coming from gold and Bitcoin holdings.
Tether decided to keep most of its profits within stablecoin reserves to ensure resiliency. Furthermore, the company has achieved its goal of removing the risk of secured loans from the token reserves.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said, “We look forward to a great 2024, with many new projects and products ready to come alive.”
While Tether is known for its USDT stablecoin, he added the company is becoming an investor and infrastructure builder in many strategic sectors, such as AI, peer-to-peer telecommunications, Bitcoin mining and renewable energy production.
Tether's assets under management stand at $98.5 billion, comprised of $91.6 billion in USDT and $5.4 billion in excess reserves.
Tether's market cap has surged from $91.7 billion to $96.2 billion over the past month. After recently minting 1 billion USDT, Matrixport Research expects $100 billion in market cap soon, fueled by a 7.9% growth in the total stablecoin market cap of the six largest stablecoins over the past four months, based on Santiment data.
Also Read: Stablecoin Mayhem Rocks Crypto Market: USDC/USDT Plunges More Than 20 Cents Before Stabilizing
Why It Matters: Tether is riding high on recent developments, which have seen it move towards more transparency with decisions like publishing its reserves in real time.
Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick in a recent interview affirmed Tether has assets to back its USDT stablecoin, saying "From what we've seen...they have the money."
The company is also expanding into ventures like Bitcoin mining and cooperating with authorities on asset freezes.
Tether is planning to spend almost $500 million over the upcoming six months to expand into the Bitcoin mining industry. Moreover, Tether is building mining facilities in Uruguay, Paraguay and El Salvador, with the capacity for each site ranging between 40 and 70 megawatts.
While the crypto community is buzzing with appreciation over Tether's fourth quarter profits, crypto trader Alle tweeted, “Crazy how Tether went from being insolvent to making $6.2 billion in a year. it's one Saylor. one year.”
Another user, Jay, compared how Goldman Sachs with 45,300 employees reported only $1.87 billion in net income in the fourth quarter, while Tether, with only 12 employees clocked, had $2.85 billion in net profits.
Potential further ETF adoption could see Tether expand its reach beyond the cryptocurrency space.
Read Next: Tether Treasury Issues $1B USDT On Ethereum Network For 'Inventory Replenish', Says CEO Paolo Ardoino
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