This adjustment raised questions about Tether’s approach to reserves.
The agency referenced Tether’s portfolio, which holds assets such as Bitcoin
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Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s Chief Technology Officer, pointed to Tether’s third-quarter 2025 attestation, which showed total group assets near $215 billion by the close of Q3 2025, with stablecoin liabilities of about $184.5 billion.
The attestation also reported around $7 billion in additional group equity and about $23 billion in retained earnings at that time.
Tether’s CTO stated that S&P Global’s score did not factor in excess group equity or Tether’s ongoing income from US Treasury interest, estimated at nearly $500 million per month. Ardoino felt the rating did not provide a full picture since it excluded these sources of strength for the business.
Arthur Hayes, founder of BitMEX
$330.75K
, shared his view that Tether might be increasing its gold and Bitcoin holdings to offset shrinking returns from US Treasuries.
Hayes explained that if the value of these assets dropped by about 30%, it could wipe out Tether’s equity and, in theory, push USDT into insolvency.
Recently, Tether announced that its user base has reached 500 million individuals worldwide. What did the Ardoino say? Read the full story.
