Paolo Ardoino Dismisses Suggestions Tether Sold BTC to Buy Gold

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has dismissed suggestions that the stablecoin company has been offloading its bitcoin holdings in order to buy gold.

Ardoino said Tether, issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin USDT, “didn’t sell any bitcoin,” in a post on X on Sunday.

The Tether CEO was responding to suggestions from YouTuber Clive Thompson that the secoind quarter attestation data of the company’s reserves showed a drop from 92,650 BTC in the first quarter to 83,274.

Samson Mow, CEO of Bitcoin technology company JAN3, responded to Thompson’s post, pointing out that Tether had sent nearly 20,000 BTC to bitcoin treasury company Twenty One Capital (XXI), of which Tether is a majority shareholder.

“Correct,” Ardoino said in response to Mow’s post. “As Samson says below, [Tether] contributed part of its stash into XXI.”

“While the world continues to get darker, Tether will continue to invest part of its profits into safe assets like bitcoin, gold and land,” Ardoino added.

Tether already holds $8.7 billion worth of gold bars and it has been reported that it plans to invest in mining the precious metal.