$90 Million in Profit Per Person: The World’s Largest Private Buyer of Gold

A private company has become the world’s largest gold holder outside of central banks.

Paolo Ardoino is busier than ever. He spends $1 billion each month, buys 1 to 2 tons of gold weekly, and says, “This won’t stop in the coming months.”

Paolo isn’t a central bank governor—he’s the CEO of Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin company.

Tether issues USDT, the world’s largest stablecoin, with a circulating supply of about $187 billion. The business model is simple: you deposit $1, Tether issues 1 USDT. You trade with the token, while Tether invests your dollar in Treasury bonds to earn interest.

In 2024, Tether’s net profit surpassed $13 billion. With a team of about 150 people, that’s roughly $86.6 million profit per employee. Net profit for the first three quarters of 2025 has already exceeded $10 billion, and the full-year figure is projected to reach $15 billion—outpacing Goldman Sachs. This year, Tether could see per capita profit hit $100 million.

But while Tether’s core business is dollar-based, the company has been aggressively stockpiling gold in recent years.

Tether has amassed approximately 140 tons of gold, valued at around $24 billion—more than the reserves of the central banks of South Korea, Greece, or Australia. Of this, 16.2 tons back its gold token XAUT, while the remaining 124 tons are held as Tether’s own assets.

Tether is now the world’s largest private gold holder, second only to central banks.

At its current pace, Tether buys over $1 billion in gold each month. Since late September 2024, gold prices have risen from roughly $2,650 to over $5,100, giving Tether more than $5 billion in unrealized gains.

Ardoino has stated, “Logically, gold is safer than any national currency.”

Many Tether users are from countries like Turkey, Argentina, and Nigeria, where currencies have consistently depreciated. They use USDT to escape the reach of their own central banks. Ardoino takes the logic further: what if the dollar itself falters one day?

He sells dollars with one hand and hoards gold with the other. He understands the risks better than anyone.

Gold Vaults in Nuclear Bunkers and Traders Poached from HSBC

Tether stores its gold in a former Swiss nuclear bunker.

Switzerland built about 370,000 nuclear bunkers during the Cold War. Most are now abandoned, but Tether repurposed one as a gold vault. Ardoino describes it as “guarded by multiple heavy steel doors, with more than a ton of gold delivered every week”—a scene straight out of James Bond.

Physical gold isn’t anyone’s liability, doesn’t depend on government credit, and can’t be frozen, sanctioned, or printed out of thin air. It’s the oldest form of security.

But Ardoino’s ambitions extend beyond hoarding—he wants to trade as well.

The global gold market is dominated by major banks like JPMorgan, HSBC, and Citigroup, which control pricing and liquidity.

In November 2025, HSBC’s Global Head of Metals Trading, Vincent Domien, and Head of EMEA Precious Metals, Mathew O’Neill, both resigned.

Both are top industry figures. Domien has led HSBC’s global metals trading since 2022 and sits on the LBMA board; O’Neill has been with HSBC since 2008.

Their new employer? Tether.

A crypto company recruiting elite gold traders from traditional finance sent shockwaves through London’s financial district.

Ardoino says he needs “the world’s best gold trading platform” to enable long-term gold purchases and “capitalize on potential market inefficiencies.”

Buying around $1 billion in physical gold monthly presents significant logistical hurdles.

Currently, Tether “sources directly from Swiss refineries and large financial institutions. A major order can take months to fulfill.” Without bargaining power in the supply chain, it’s at the mercy of suppliers for quantities and delivery times.

Building internal trading capabilities is Tether’s solution. Saving just 0.5% in trading costs could mean $60 million a year. More importantly, it gives Tether control over its operations.

From Central Bank to Gold Consortium

Tether’s approach to gold increasingly mirrors that of a central bank.

Central banks value gold for two reasons: global liquidity and its status as a non-liability asset independent of foreign credit.

After Trump took office, tariff threats mounted and the dollar hit a three-year low. At the same time, central banks worldwide ramped up gold purchases. Poland’s central bank led global gold buying in 2024 and 2025, adding about 90 tons in 2024 and maintaining its lead in 2025. China, Russia, Turkey, India, and Brazil also steadily increased their holdings.

Tether has taken this trend to the extreme, doing what central banks do—only as a private entity. Jefferies analysts note that Tether, as “a significant new buyer, could drive sustained growth in gold demand,” with its Q3 2025 purchases accounting for roughly 2% of global demand. A stablecoin company has become a force behind gold’s rally.

But Tether’s ambitions don’t stop there. The company is quietly acquiring stakes in gold royalty companies.

Royalty companies buy revenue streams from miners. Miners extract gold, and royalty firms earn a share of the proceeds—like collecting rent. The advantage: no mining, no operational risk, just passive income.

According to Bloomberg, Tether has invested over $200 million for about 37.8% of Elemental Altus Royalties, then added another $100 million to support its merger with EMX. Tether also holds stakes in several mid-sized, publicly listed Canadian royalty companies, including Metalla Royalty, Versamet Royalties, and Gold Royalty.

Leading this effort is Juan Sartori, Tether’s Vice President of Strategic Projects.

He’s a former Uruguayan senator, co-owner of Sunderland AFC in the English Premier League, vice president of AS Monaco, and founder of Union Group. Politician, businessman, football club owner, crypto executive—his resume is truly global.

From stablecoins downstream, to physical gold and trading in the middle, to upstream mining rights, Tether is building a full gold industry chain—looking more and more like a gold consortium.

Beyond physical gold, Tether offers a gold-backed token, XAUT. Each XAUT represents physical gold in a Swiss vault, and holders can even request delivery of gold bars. XAUT makes up about 60% of the global gold token market, with a market cap around $2.7 billion. By year-end 2025, XAUT will be backed by about 16.2 tons of physical gold.

Ardoino predicts circulation could reach $5 billion to $10 billion by the end of 2026. If it hits $10 billion, that would require another 60 tons of gold reserves. Supporting XAUT alone would mean buying over 1 ton of gold every week.

He also made a prediction: “Some countries are buying large amounts of gold. We believe they’ll soon launch tokenized versions of gold as a competitor to the dollar.”

He didn’t name the countries, but it’s clear who’s been stockpiling gold in recent years.

Someone Is Always Ready with Their Own Gold Vault

James Rickards, former Pentagon financial warfare advisor, wrote in Currency Wars: the foundation of currency competition is reserve competition.

In the 1960s, French Finance Minister Valéry Giscard d’Estaing complained that the US enjoyed an “exorbitant privilege”—printing a few cents’ worth of paper while the world exchanged real gold and silver for it.

This system has lasted sixty years, sustained by global trust in the dollar.

But trust can collapse quickly. That’s the core of the reserve wars.

Trade wars, tariff wars, and currency wars are just surface symptoms of competition over monetary credibility. The foundation of that credibility is the quality of reserves.

As the dollar is repeatedly weaponized—foreign reserves frozen, SWIFT channels cut, financial sanctions imposed—the world is forced to ask: what kind of reserves are truly safe?

Central banks understand this, so they quietly add to their gold holdings. Tether understands it too—which is why it’s aggressively stockpiling.

John Reade, Chief Market Strategist at the World Gold Council, says Tether’s purchases impact gold prices, but are just a small part of the rally. He adds, “What’s really interesting is that one of the main players in crypto is treating gold as the original dollar devaluation trade.”

In August 2025, Tether hired Bo Hines, former executive director of the White House Cryptocurrency Committee under the Trump administration, as its US strategic advisor. Hines helped push the Genius Act—the first US stablecoin regulation—through Congress. In January 2026, Tether launched the USAT, a US-specific token compliant with the act.

On one hand, Tether is hoarding gold in Swiss nuclear bunkers; on the other, it’s lobbying in Washington. The company is strong on both fronts.

Gold prices are at record highs, and the dollar has hit a three-year low. In an unremarkable cave at the foot of the Swiss Alps, another ton of gold is delivered and the heavy steel doors close.

The world is indeed growing more turbulent, but there are always those who build their gold vaults ahead of time.

Disclaimer:

1. This article is republished from [动察Beating]. Copyright belongs to the original author [Lin Wanwan]. If you have any concerns about this republication, please contact the Gate Learn team, who will address it promptly in accordance with relevant procedures.
2. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not constitute investment advice.
3. Other language versions of this article are translated by the Gate Learn team. Do not copy, distribute, or plagiarize the translated article without proper attribution to Gate.