Tether adds 951 BTC, stash nears 97K – What’s the strategy?
Despite multiple developments and having way more Bitcoin than Circle, why has Tether started to lag in 2026?
Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, has made headlines for acquiring 951 BTC worth $70.4 million on the 15th of April.
As reported by Arkham Intelligence, the stablecoin issuer had moved those 951 BTC from the Bitfinex wallet. This has brought the total Bitcoin holdings to 97,141 BTC worth $7.22 billion.
Well, Tether has been accumulating Bitcoin since October 2022, starting with 33,980.56 BTC. In fact, by the end of 2025, Tether had already reached a BTC stash of 96,184 BTC.
As per BitcoinTreasuries.NET data, Tether ranks second in the list of private companies holding Bitcoin, after Block One, which holds 164,000 BTC worth $12.31 billion. On the other hand, Circle—the stablecoin issuer of USDC—just holds 73 BTC worth $5.48 million.
Bitcoin price action sheds light on Tether’s BTC strategy
This move by Tether happened at a time when Bitcoin [BTC] was trading near the $73,000 price level. However, at the time of publishing, BTC was changing hands at $75,034.58 after a hike of 1.41% in the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Spot BTC ETFs saw inflows worth $411.4 million on the 14th of April and $186.1 million on the 15th of April, as per Farside Investors data.
This highlights that institutions are stepping into Bitcoin, ignoring short-term price action and focusing on the long-term conviction of Bitcoin.
A more profound look suggests that various firms might be following Michael Saylor’s firm Strategy approach of accumulating Bitcoin. Thanks to its aggressive Bitcoin buying spree, Saylor’s firm ranks first in the list of top 100 public Bitcoin treasury companies.
Tether Investment’s $134 million participation
On the same day, Tether’s independent investment arm, Tether Investments, also announced its investment of $134 million in a financial round for Stablecoin Development Corporation.
Taken together, this marks the expansion of institutional stablecoin into public markets.
Remarking on the same, Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, said,
Stablecoins are already being used far beyond trading, especially in places where traditional systems don’t work well.
This comes on the heels of the stablecoin market capitalization jumping from $50 billion to $300 billion in just five years. Additionally, in 2025, stablecoin transaction volume had surpassed $33 trillion, which was more than the combined volume of Visa and Mastercard.
USDT vs. USDC
However, as per the latest data from Visa on-chain analytics, Circle’s USDC was outpacing Tether’s USDT in transaction volume. In fact, since the start of 2026, USDC has overpowered USDT in the aforementioned arena.
With this rise in competition, Tether has recently announced plans to conduct its first comprehensive financial statement audit by the Big Four accounting firm.
All in all, this suggests that the competition in the stablecoin space is growing thanks to the GENIUS Act, and the issuers are not keeping calm.
Final Summary
- Tether’s withdrawal of 951 BTC from the Bitfinex wallet has pushed Tether’s Bitcoin holdings to 97,141 BTC.
- Despite Circle’s BTC holdings being well less than Tether’s BTC holdings, USDC is outpacing USDT in stablecoin transaction volume.
