Tether is the largest stablecoin provider, issuing USDT as a fiat-backed digital token representing US dollar reserves. It enables fast, borderless transfers with blockchain settlement while maintaining 1:1 collateralization.
Issuers on the platform:Tether LimitedTG Commodities LimitedRWA DAOUSDT0 Network (XAUt0 deployments)
Entity
Legal entityTether Limited
HeadquartersEl Salvador
Founded2014
Primary chainEthereum
Leadership:Paolo Ardoino, CEO since December 2023
Entity structure
Tether Operations S.A. de C.V. in El Salvador is the operating company for USDT following the 2025 relocation. The US token USAT sits outside this structure and is issued by Anchorage Digital Bank N.A. with Tether providing Hadron technology and distribution. Non stablecoin divisions include Power, Data, Edu, and Evo.
Registry
Tether Holdings Ltd. (BVI). Issuer of USDT (largest stablecoin by market cap, $130B+), USDt0 (Solana/TON), XAUT (gold-backed), and EURT. Operates via Bitfinex affiliate group. Quarterly attestations by BDO Italia. CEO Paolo Ardoino.
Licensed as a Digital Asset Service Provider and stablecoin issuer in El Salvador, where the group relocated in January 2025, operating through Tether Operations S.A. de C.V. USDT holds no US federal license. The US market token USAT launched in January 2026 under the GENIUS Act, issued by Anchorage Digital Bank N.A. with Cantor Fitzgerald as reserve custodian.
Compliance
Access ModelPermissionless 7Permissioned 0
Of 7 assets
Attested6 of 7
KYC to mint or redeem5 of 5
Allowlisted to holdunknown
Transferable7 of 7
Self custody7 of 7
Redeemable6 of 6
Attestation frequencyQuarterly
Last attestationQuarterly (BDO Italia attestation)
Fees & revenue
Revenue modelFloat Income
ConfidenceIssuer-Disclosed
Est. annual revenue$0
Holder total fee0 bps
Asset manager take0 bps
Tokenization platform take0 bps
Mint fee10 bps
Redemption fee10 bps
Float incomeYes
Fees last verified2026-07-02
Tether earns float income on reserves backing its stablecoins — primarily short-duration US Treasuries (~$80B+), reverse repos, and bank deposits. In 2024 Tether reported ~$13B in profits, making it one of the most profitable financial firms per employee in the world. No fees charged at the token-holder level; mint/redeem fees apply at the institutional-customer level for whitelisted treasury operations.
How the estimate is built
Take-rate basis: Float income on reserves
Revenue mix: Interest on about 141B in US Treasury exposure (about 117B direct T-bills plus about 24B repo, per the 2026-03-31 attestation) plus gold (about 20B) and BTC (about 7B) mark-to-market gains. Mint and redeem fees are immaterial. FY2025 net profit exceeded 10B. Q1 2026 profit was 1.04B. Excess reserves 8.23B.
Verification method: Fee schedule fetched from tether.to/en/fees on 2026-07-02. Profit and reserve figures from the BDO-attested Q1 2026 report via tether.io press release.
Chain and share-class variants: A 100000 minimum applies to mint and redemption. A 150 one-time verification fee applies. XAUt has a separate fee schedule at gold.tether.to. There are no per-chain differences.
Tether
Tether USDUSDT
Tether GoldXAUT
Staked USDTstUSDT
Tether Gold TokensXAUT0
Mexican Peso TetherMXNT
Tether CNHâ‚®CNHT
Euro TetherEURT