Tether’s Excess Reserves Near $8B as Q3 Profit Hits $1.5B

Tether reported $1.5 billion in operating profit for the third quarter of 2026, while its excess reserves nearly doubled to $7.95 billion. According to the company’s latest attestation, prepared by independent accounting firm BDO, Tether held $191.5 billion in assets against liabilities of $183.5 billion at the end of September. The reserve surplus rose from $4.1 billion in June.

Tether’s assets included $132.4 billion in direct and indirect US Treasury bill holdings, exceeding the UAE’s reported $116.1 billion exposure to US government debt and approaching South Korea’s $134.2 billion position. The company generated $4.5 billion in net operating profit during the first nine months of 2026, with income largely attributed to Treasury bills and reverse repurchase agreements.

Tether’s Bitcoin reserves were valued at $8.37 billion at the end of September, up from approximately $5.8 billion in June. USDT remains the largest stablecoin, representing about 60% of the $297.3 billion stablecoin market, according to DefiLlama. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino also said USDT’s user base had surpassed 700 million, with adoption concentrated in emerging markets.

The update comes as Tether continues to address concerns about reserve transparency. In August, the company completed its first full independent financial-statement audit with KPMG US, although the audited statements were not released publicly.