Why Tether became the world’s largest buyer of gold in Q3 

Key Takeaways

Why has Tether doubled down on gold?

According to analysts, it could be a strategic positioning for tokenized gold market boom. 

How much did it buy?

It holds about 116 tonnes of gold in its vaults, mostly acquired in 2025, and now rivals smaller central banks like Korea. 

Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, has emerged as the top gold buyer in Q3, surpassing central banks’ demand. 

According to aggregated data from the Financial Times (FT), Tether purchased 26 tonnes of gold, surpassing the demand from Kazakhstan and Brazil’s central banks. 

According to investment bank Jefferies, apart from central banks, Tether is now the largest holder of gold outside central banks, citing its 116 tonnes of gold per the September reserve attestation report. 

The bank added that Tether’s gold vault now “roughly equals that of smaller central banks, such as Korea, Hungary, and Greece.”

Mapping Tether’s demand for gold

Tether has had gold as part of the reserves backing its USDT stablecoin. However, in light of the surge in gold’s price, demand for Tether gold (XAUT), a tokenized gold, also spiked. 

In 2024, Tether’s net demand for gold ranged from around 3 to 7 tonnes per quarter. However, in 2025, the demand surged to 23.5 tonnes in Q2 and increased to 25.9 tonnes in Q3. 

Over the same period, gold’s price rose by nearly 40%, rising from $3k to $4,300. According to Jefferies, Tether is a new demand line for gold and could have been the catalyst behind the rally. 

The bank added that Tether might be betting that tokenized gold could go mainstream, like stablecoins did, and could be positioning itself accordingly. 

Additionally, the analysts noted that retailers can’t hold typical gold ETFs due to the hefty fees and minimum investment requirements.

As a result, Tether gold and other on-chain versions, such as Pax gold (PAXG), could become attractive for retailers. Especially since they don’t have ETF restrictions. 

In fact, tokenized gold reached a record high of $3.9 billion in market supply and rivalled stablecoins in inflows. 

Tether gold and Pax gold, for example, expanded from below $1 billion to over $2 billion and $1.3 billion, respectively, in H2. 

This simply reinforces Jefferies’ claim that on-chain gold has been picking up traction. However, it remains to be seen whether the momentum will continue after the SEC establishes clear rules for tokenized markets.