Tether’s USDT Reserves: Treasuries, Gold and Bitcoin
About 80% of Tether’s roughly $185 billion reserves are short-dated U.S. Treasuries. Unrealized losses on gold and Bitcoin cut its excess buffer to $4.11 billion at June 30, 2026.
Tether holds roughly 80% of its about $185 billion reserve portfolio in short-dated U.S. Treasury bills, counted both directly and through money market funds and repo agreements. At June 30, 2026, the company’s reported excess reserve buffer stood at $4.11 billion.
Tether’s Q2 2026 attestation, published July 31, shows total assets fell from about $191.77 billion at the end of Q1 to $187.75 billion. Circulating USDT increased by roughly $446 million to about $184.6 billion over the same quarter. The combination of lower assets and higher token supply reduced the cushion above the required one-to-one backing.
The remainder of the reserves is allocated to cash and cash equivalents, overnight repos, secured loans, and two volatile holdings: gold and Bitcoin. Recent attestations place gold at about $8 billion and Bitcoin at about $7 billion.
Tether reported that unrealized mark-to-market losses on gold and Bitcoin outweighed earnings from the fixed-income portfolio in Q2 2026, which contributed to the decline in the reported excess buffer. The attestation states USDT remained fully backed one-to-one on the attestation date, with the buffer reported on top of required backing.
BDO Italia provided the quarterly attestation that confirms reported figures on a specific date. Tether engaged KPMG in March 2026 for a full independent financial statement audit covering the balance sheet and internal controls. PwC was retained to prepare internal systems and controls ahead of the audit. An audit examines controls and financial statements over a period, while an attestation verifies figures at a single point in time.
When Tether first disclosed a reserve breakdown in 2021, nearly half of reserves were in unspecified commercial paper. A 2021 settlement with the New York attorney general required quarterly reserve disclosures and included a $41 million penalty.
Regulatory developments affected market access in 2026: EU authorities determined USDT did not comply with certain rules, and licensed European exchanges removed the token in July 2026.
Open items in the public record include the outcome of the KPMG audit and how volatile reserve holdings will affect the excess buffer in future attestations. Quarterly attestations will continue to provide date-specific verification of reported reserve figures while the full audit examines systems and controls over time.
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