Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino denies rumors that the company sold Bitcoin to buy gold

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino took to X yesterday and responded to rumors about his company selling Bitcoin holdings to buy gold.

The USDT stablecoin creator wrote, “Tether didn’t sell any Bitcoin.” He added that Tether is investing profits into valuable assets like Bitcoin, gold, and even land.

Ardoino denies offloading any Bitcoin

The rumor spread over social media after a YouTuber named Clive Thompson posted a video titled “Tether is Selling Bitcoin and Buying Gold! What Do They Know?” The video spread fear among crypto enthusiasts.

In the video, Thompson claimed Tether sold some of its Bitcoin holdings after comparing the company’s attestation data from Q1 and Q2 of this year. He showed a drop of Tether’s BTC holdings from 92,650 BTC in Q1 to 83,274 BTC in Q2. However, it’s unclear how he figured out Tether’s plan to buy gold with its alleged BTC proceeds.

Samson Mow, the CEO of JAN3, took to X to debunk Thompson’s claims. He explained that Tether had moved 19,800 BTC to a company called Twenty One Capital (XXI). The company, which focuses on Bitcoin accumulation, received the coins in two batches of 14,000 BTC and 5,800 BTC, sent in June and July.

Ardoino supported Samson’s post and said, “Correct. Tether didn’t sell any Bitcoin. As Samson says below, it contributed part of its stash into XXI.”

As of today, Thompson’s speculative video is no longer available on YouTube.

According to Bitcoin treasuries data from BitBO, Tether has a balance of 92,646.2 BTC, equating to $10.38 billion. The USDT issuer allocates up to 15% of its operating profits towards buying more Bitcoin.

Tether backs Twenty One Capital

In April, Tether, alongside SoftBank Group and Strike founder Jack Mallers, launched Twenty One Capital (XXI). The company was formed through a SPAC merger with Cantor Equity Partners, a vehicle affiliated with Cantor Fitzgerald.

The company is labeled as a Bitcoin-native. It provides investors with one vehicle for Bitcoin exposure and prioritizes BTC accumulation. Twenty One Capital has two metrics to measure performance. The first metric is Bitcoin Per Share (BPS), which represents the amount of Bitcoin each share. The second metric is the Bitcoin Return Rate (BRR), which measures the growth rate of BPS over time.

Tether has been moving BTC to Twenty One Capital (XXI) since its launch. The company holds 43,514 BTC, valued at $4.88 billion.

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