Latest Tether Figures Show 21% Decrease in Commercial Paper

Tether Holdings Limited has released its latest quarterly assurance opinion, which shows a 21% decrease in commercial paper holdings over the latest quarter. 

In an accompanying blog post on the Tether website, the company says these latest figures demonstrate that the group’s reserves held for digital tokens issued exceed the amount required to redeem issued digital tokens.

The company adds that an increase in the group’s investments in money market funds and treasury bills “further fortifies the resilience” of Tether stablecoins. 

“We are committed to serving the fast-growing cryptocurrency market as the strongest stable asset in the Web3 economy,”  said Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino in a prepared statement. Ardoino added that Tether has “grown beyond being just a tool for quickly moving in and out of trading positions,” adding that it’s “mission critical” to scale Tether alongside peer-to-peer and payments markets.

Tether’s reserves

In May 2021, Tether revealed a breakdown of its reserves for the first time since 2014. 

As of March 2021, almost 76% of Tether’s reserves were held in cash or cash equivalents. The remaining quarter was held in an array of secured loans, bonds, and other investments which included Bitcoin. 

Under cash and cash equivalent, commercial paper held the majority with a share of 65%. 

Despite the company previously claiming that Tether was backed 100% by cash, these figures showed that less than 3% of Tether reserves were held in cash. At the time, Stuart Hoegner, general counsel at Tether, said it was “misleading” to focus on cash exclusively. 

In August 2021, another Tether-released assurance report—conducted by Cayman Islands-based auditor Moore Cayman—showed that Tether had a total backing of $62.7 billion. 

Of that total backing, $30.8 billion was made up of commercial paper and certificates of deposit. Just 10% of Tether’s backing was said to have come from cash and bank deposits. 

In October 2021, Tether was hit with a $41 million fine from the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission for lying about its dollar reserves. 

Bitfinex, Tether’s sister company, was also fined.