Tether reported $1.5 billion in third-quarter operating profit as its excess reserves nearly doubled to $7.95 billion, according to the company, with figures released alongside its latest attestation prepared by independent accounting firm BDO.

At the end of September, Tether held $191.5 billion in assets against $183.5 billion in liabilities, leaving a reserve surplus of $7.95 billion — nearly double the $4.1 billion reported in June. Its assets included $132.4 billion in direct and indirect holdings of US Treasury bills. That surplus acts as a capital cushion above the assets backing USDT, a buffer intended to absorb losses and cover redemptions in stressed market conditions.

That Treasury exposure is comparable to South Korea's $134.2 billion in US government debt and exceeds the United Arab Emirates' $116.1 billion, according to August data from the US Treasury Department. Treasury bills are short-dated US government debt, and together with reverse repurchase agreements they generate the interest income behind most of Tether's reported earnings — returns that move with prevailing interest rates.

The company said it generated $4.5 billion in net operating profit during the first nine months of 2026, with income driven largely by US Treasury bills and reverse repurchase agreements. Its Bitcoin reserves were valued at $8.37 billion, up from approximately $5.8 billion at the end of June.

USDT remains the world's largest stablecoin, accounting for around 60% of the $297.3 billion stablecoin market, according to DefiLlama data. Stablecoins are tokens engineered to hold a steady value against a reference asset, most often the US dollar, and underpin much of the liquidity in crypto trading and cross-border payments. On Friday, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in a post on X that USDT's user base had surpassed 700 million, with adoption concentrated in emerging markets.

The stablecoin issuer has faced years of scrutiny over its reserve transparency. In August, Tether announced the completion of its first full independent financial statement audit by KPMG US, although the audited statements were not made public. An attestation such as the BDO report verifies balances at a single point in time, while a full audit examines financial statements across a reporting period; until the audited statements are published, such attestations remain the primary public window into Tether's reserves.

Source: Cointelegraph