Tether posts $1.5B Q2 profit; USDT users top 650M

Tether reported a $1.5 billion net profit for the second quarter of 2026 and said its USDT user base exceeded 650 million, citing portfolio returns from U.S. Treasury bonds and repurchase agreements and strong demand in emerging markets.

The Q2 net operating profit rose 44% from $1.04 billion in Q1 2026. Tether reported a $4.1 billion reserve buffer intended to cover potential large-scale USDT redemptions. The company increased its physical gold holdings from 132.2 tons to 146 tons, a 10.5% rise from the previous quarter.

Tether reported the fastest user growth in Latin America and parts of Africa. In Venezuela, USDT trading on a major exchange reached about $1.4 billion, a level the company compared with significant national foreign-exchange flows. In Bolivia, growing demand for U.S. dollar exposure has led to widespread business and banking use of USDT and prompted government discussion about formal legal recognition.

In Africa Tether reported expanding use of USDT for remittances and as a hedge against local currency inflation. The company outlined a pilot with Kenyan authorities to study tokenizing local stocks and enabling settlement in USDT. Tether framed the Kenya project as a potential model for other countries if regulatory and administrative conditions allow.

Despite the rise in users, Tether’s USDT market capitalization declined by roughly $7 billion from a May peak near $190 billion to about $183.5 billion. The firm’s U.S.-focused stablecoin, USAT, had a market capitalization of about $185 million. The broader stablecoin market contracted from about $322 billion to $307.6 billion during the quarter, a decline of roughly 5%.

Tether issues USDT, a dollar-pegged stablecoin used for trading, remittances and dollar access in countries with unstable currencies. The company manages reserves that include cash equivalents, bonds, repurchase agreements and physical gold. Tether has faced regulatory scrutiny in multiple jurisdictions over reserve transparency and issuer practices. Any expansion into tokenization or deeper local integrations will require local regulatory approval and operational rollout.

CEO Paolo Ardoino called the results “a great second quarter of 2026, with ~1.5B in net operating profit, despite highly volatile global markets.” He added that the USDT user base reached a new all-time high of “650M+” with the strongest gains in emerging markets and wrote that Tether “continues to deliver financial inclusion in the developing world like no other company ever has in the history of humanity.”