Tether could become 'top 10 T-bill buyer' this year, USAT CEO Bo Hines says

Bo Hines, the former White House crypto advisor now leading Tether's U.S. subsidiary, said the global stablecoin issuer expects to ramp up its Treasury-bill purchases this year, driven by increasing demand for Tether’s flagship USDT token and its recently launched USAT stablecoin. 

“This year, I think we'll end up being a top 10 purchaser of T-bills,” the Tether USA₮ CEO said at the Bitcoin Investor Week conference in New York City on Wednesday. 

USDT is the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, with about $185 billion worth of tokens in circulation. According to its latest attestation, 83.11% of Tether’s reserves are in U.S. Treasury Bills, amounting to over $122 billion worth of the “risk-free” government debt securities. 

This puts Tether firmly within the top 20 T-bill holders, “including all sovereign states,” Hines said. The company would sit between Germany and Saudi Arabia in the U.S. Treasury’s ranking of foreign holders of Treasurys. 

Hines noted that USDT, launched in 2014, has about 530 million customers. “We're growing at about 30 million a quarter, which is pretty remarkable,” he added. 

Tether’s T-bill demand could also be supercharged by USAT, which officially rolled out late last month. The token, issued by Anchorage Bank, is specifically designed to comply with the U.S. federal stablecoin framework, the GENIUS Act, which mandates that regulated stablecoins must maintain 1:1 backing of high-quality holdings like short-term U.S. Treasury Bills.

Hines, as the former Executive Director of the White House Crypto Council under President Donald Trump, is said to have played an instrumental role in shepherding the GENIUS Act. He stepped down in August, shortly after the legislation was signed into law.  

“We're obviously increasing the amount of T-bills we have in our reserves as we move towards this GENIUS compliance standard,” Hines said, noting that there will be “reciprocity” between the interoperable USDT and USAT stablecoins. “It's just Tether at the end of the day.”

Of note, Tether holds about $6.3 billion in excess reserves, according to accounting firm BDO. Hines noted Tether is also the “thirteenth largest holder of gold in the world,” with about  140 tons locked away.