The Spy Who Loved Gold: Tether’s Billion-Dollar Bunker Strategy
The stablecoin giant is diversifying into heavy metal at a record pace, securing $24 billion in bullion to hedge against a shaky global monetary system.
Forget the digital mines of Bitcoin for a moment; the biggest story in crypto right now involves old-school heavy metal and a vault that would make a Bond villain jealous. Tether, the behemoth behind the world’s most ubiquitous stablecoin, has apparently decided that dominating the digital dollar market isn’t enough. The company is now aggressively cornering the physical market, snapping up gold at a rate of two tons per week, spending roughly $1 billion a month to stash bars in a high-security Swiss nuclear bunker.
This isn’t hyperbole; it’s corporate strategy. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino candidly described the facility to Bloomberg as a "James Bond kind of place," a fitting aesthetic for a crypto firm that has quietly amassed a hoard of 140 tons. Valued at an estimated $24 billion, this stockpile places Tether in the rarified air of sovereign nations, with a buying pace that currently outstrips the central banks of Greece, Qatar, and Australia. While a portion of this metal backs their gold-pegged token, Tether Gold (XAUT), the lion’s share sits as part of the company’s own massive reserves.

