USDT stablecoin issuer Tether has expanded its Bitcoin holdings by acquiring 7,629 BTC worth approximately $705 million, according to on-chain data from Arkham Intelligence.
This purchase increases Tether’s Bitcoin holdings to 82,983 BTC, worth approximately $7.68 billion at the time of writing. Based on Bitinfocharts data, the company currently ranks as the sixth largest Bitcoin holder in the world.
The purchase is part of Tether’s strategy to allocate 15% of its profits to acquiring more Bitcoin, a plan first announced in May 2023.
Since then, the company has continuously expanded its Bitcoin holdings every quarter as part of an effort to diversify its reserves to include gold, cash equivalents, and other short-term investments.
MiCA FUD
Tether’s latest acquisition comes as its flagship stablecoin, USDT, faces regulatory pressure from the European Union.
These rules impose strict requirements on stablecoin issuers, including the controversial 30% reserve requirement on traditional financial institutions.
Quinten Francois, co-founder of WeRate, argued that this requirement would limit Tether’s flexibility to generate income from assets such as U.S. Treasuries, which is the cornerstone of its revenue strategy, and hurt operational efficiency.
Francois also noted that this requirement could prevent Tether from leveraging its profits to strengthen its reserves and reduce its dependence on the traditional financial system.
Additionally, regulatory experts like Jonathan Galea of BCAS IO have revealed that stablecoins like USDT that are not actively marketed within the EU may not require MiCA approval. did.
Galea suggested that compliance concerns may be overblown because trading platforms can list these assets without a direct request from the issuer. He said:
“USDt is not the only stablecoin that is not publicly available in the EU. There are many other stablecoins whose issuers do not need to be licensed under MiCA because they are not licensed according to specific legislation. That doesn’t mean we don’t comply with the law.”
Meanwhile, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino urged the community to ignore the FUD surrounding the USDT digital asset, stating:
“USDT is safe…Competitors are hell-bent on making you believe something that doesn’t exist.”
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