As Bitcoin’s price continues to soar, several companies that have invested in the asset are now recording substantial gains. Tether, the blockchain company behind the leading stablecoin USDT, is the latest to net profits.
According to an on-chain study from blockchain explorer BitInfoCharts, Tether currently holds over 57,576 BTCs, which were purchased at an average of $22,480 per BTC. With this metric, the stablecoin issuer now holds an unrealized profit of $1.1 billion, representing an 85% increase.
Tether Invests in Bitcoin
Like other stablecoins, Tether backs its USDT reserve portfolio with a basket of financial products. Among them is Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
As of April this year, Tether held 53,492 BTCs in its digital wallet. However, the company announced in May that it would now invest 15% of its monthly revenue in BTC. The company stated that this initiative, believed to be a hedge against inflation, will bolster the USDT reserve portfolio.
Between May and September, the stablecoin issuer acquired an additional 4,083 BTCs, bringing its total holdings to 57,576 BTC, which now has over a billion dollars in unrealized profits.
Meanwhile, Tether, in its third quarter (Q3) attestation report, revealed a whopping $3.2 billion in excess reserves. Some of the assets held in the reserve included BTC and other financial products like U.S. Treasury bills, cash, and other cash equivalents.
BTC Trades Above $41k Boosting Large Investors
At the time of writing, BTC traded at $41,500, representing an impressive 11.8% increase over the past week.
Source: CoinStats
The substantial increase means that other big players investing in BTC have also recorded massive gains. One company reeling from the recent jump is MicroStrategy, a business intelligence company that has allocated a significant portion of its assets to Bitcoin.
Last week, the firm added 16,130 BTCs to its stash, bringing its total holdings to more than 170,000 BTCs. Presently, the company’s BTC portfolio is valued at over $7.2 billion.
El Salvador, the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, has also posted $3.6 million in unrealized profit following BTC’s price increase.
