Tether weighing large-scale gold investment surprises mining and commodities execs: FT

Tether, the world's largest stablecoin supplier, may significantly increase its exposure to gold, according to a report from the Financial Times on Friday.

The company, which has earned billions of dollars in profit thanks to its USDT stablecoin, has held discussions about investing in the "entire gold supply chain, from mining and refining to trading and royalty companies," the media outlet said , citing anonymous sources.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino seemed to indicate the story is true when the crypto executive replied to a post featuring the story with the comment on X that said: "Stability maximalism."

The stablecoin issuer has generated billions of dollars in profit, allowing Tether to invest in various business ventures . Tether also holds a substantial amount of gold.

In July, Tether said it had nearly 250,000 Tether Gold (XAU₮) tokens in circulation backed by the equivalent of more than 7.66 tons of gold in total. Holders can reportedly redeem their holdings for physical gold that’s held in Swiss vaults.

Tether also acquired nearly a 33% stake in Canadian precious metals royalty company Elemental Altus Royalties Corp. in order to diversify its exposure to global gold production.

Tether's gold strategy surprises

Tether's possible plans to invest even more significantly into gold have been met with "surprise," according to FT.

"The conservative gold mining sector, Tether’s interest has been greeted with surprise — and questions about whether the unconventional newcomer will succeed. 'They like gold. I don’t think they have a strategy,' said one mining executive," the report said.

"It is the weirdest company I have ever dealt with," a commodity executive told FT.

Of note, the spot price of gold hit an all-time high of $3,650 on Friday afternoon.