Tether Holds About 150,000 Bitcoin Worth $11.5 Billion, CEO Ardoino Says at Lugano Forum

Published November 3, 2026, 8:00 PM PKT. Based on Tether chief executive Paolo Ardoino's November 3, 2026 keynote at the Plan B Forum in Lugano, Switzerland (primary source, as reported by CoinDesk and CryptoBriefing), Tether International's third-quarter 2026 reserve attestation prepared by accounting firm BDO (primary source, as reported by CoinDesk), and CoinDesk's November 3, 2026 report (secondary source). This is a standalone story, not a follow-up to an earlier MABOnChain article.

Tether holds about 150,000 Bitcoin worth roughly $11.5 billion, chief executive Paolo Ardoino said on November 3, 2026, disclosing a corporate Bitcoin position about 50,000 coins larger than the holdings implied by the company's own reserve report. Ardoino gave the figure during his keynote at the Plan B Forum in Lugano, Switzerland, telling the audience, in his words, "We have give or take 150,000 bitcoin ourselves. It is not much, but it is honest work." The disclosure makes Tether, the issuer of USDT, the world's most widely used stablecoin, one of the largest corporate Bitcoin holders on the planet, behind only Strategy among major holders, according to CryptoNews. Ardoino also said Tether now serves more than 730 million users worldwide, adding roughly 30 million wallets per quarter.

The 150,000-coin disclosure

According to CoinDesk, Ardoino announced the figure while discussing how Tether supports the Bitcoin ecosystem, after revealing the user numbers. At Bitcoin's price of about $77,093 at the time of CoinDesk's report, 150,000 BTC comes to just under $11.6 billion, in line with the $11.5 billion figure. The number matters because Tether's public reserve disclosures earlier in 2026 had put its Bitcoin holdings somewhere between 96,000 and 100,000 BTC, so the keynote figure represents a jump of roughly 50,000 coins over what the reserve paperwork shows. Ardoino also outlined Tether's Independence Stack strategy at the forum, an open-source infrastructure push spanning energy, Bitcoin mining, peer-to-peer communications, self-custody wallets and local artificial intelligence, according to TradingView's report of the keynote.

The 50,000-coin gap with the attestation

Tether International's third-quarter reserve report, which carries an attestation from accounting firm BDO, lists $8.37 billion of Bitcoin valued at $83,621.23 per coin as of September 30, 2026. The report's exact figures imply holdings of about 100,060 BTC, compared with roughly 98,930 at the end of June, according to CoinDesk, an increase of about 1,130 BTC during the third quarter. Most of the $2.57 billion rise in the reserve portfolio's Bitcoin value came from higher prices, CoinDesk calculated, since applying September's valuation to June's holdings accounts for about $2.47 billion of the gain. The same attestation reported $191.45 billion in reserve assets against $183.50 billion in liabilities at September's end, with excess reserves, the assets above liabilities, rising to $7.95 billion from $4.11 billion in June. Tether has previously said its proprietary investments, held through Tether Investments, are funded from excess capital and profits and kept separate from the reserves backing USDT, and those holdings would fall outside the reserve report. Ardoino did not specify whether they explain the difference, and he did not say where the additional coins sit or when Tether acquired them, so the gap does not prove a fresh 50,000 BTC purchase. Until Tether documents where the additional coins sit, 150,000 remains a chief executive's estimate, while the attested number is about 100,060 BTC.

Fifteen percent of profits, since May 2023

The accumulation traces back to a policy Tether announced in May 2023, under which the company regularly allocates up to 15% of its net realized operating profits to Bitcoin purchases, holding the coins itself rather than using third-party custodians, according to CoinDesk. CryptoBriefing's report of the keynote noted that the jump from the 96,000 to 100,000 range to roughly 150,000 suggests the program accelerated rather than slowed this year. COINTURK reported that on December 31, 2025, the firm purchased 8,888 BTC for about $780 million, according to public records, and that the company continues to add to its position in 2026 without publishing the specifics of each transaction. The same third-quarter attestation showed about $122.8 billion in direct US Treasury bill holdings, or about $132.4 billion including repurchase agreements, alongside the $7.95 billion in excess reserves, a balance sheet that explains how the issuer can fund a Bitcoin buying program of this size from profits while keeping USDT fully backed.

Second only to Strategy

CryptoNews reported that the estimated 150,000 BTC position puts Tether ahead of every public company on the BitcoinTreasuries list except Strategy, which holds 849,327 BTC, about 5.7 times as much. Tether is privately held and sits outside that ranking, with Giancarlo Devasini owning roughly 45% and Ardoino about 20%, according to CryptoBriefing. The comparison frames the scale of the disclosure: a stablecoin issuer that most users know only as the company behind USDT now holds a Bitcoin treasury larger than every listed corporate buyer bar one, and it built that position from operating profits rather than from shareholder capital raised for the purpose. That distinction also explains why the figure does not appear in the reserve report, since the report covers only the assets backing USDT, not the group's wider corporate holdings.

What the disclosure does not settle

The keynote left the key questions open. Ardoino gave no wallet breakdown, no purchase schedule, and no statement on whether the extra coins sit in Tether Investments, in treasury accounts, or elsewhere, and the attestation's September 30 cutoff means any coins bought in October would not appear in it either. Readers should therefore treat the 150,000 figure as an unaudited management estimate, not as an attested reserve number, and should not read it as evidence of a single recent purchase. What is firmly documented is the attested base of about 100,060 BTC at September 30, the May 2023 profit-allocation policy, and the Treasury and excess-reserve figures from the BDO attestation. The market context is a Bitcoin price near $77,000 on November 3, after a 7.3% October decline, with US midterm voting under way, a backdrop in which a $11.5 billion corporate holding announcement lands as a statement of conviction from the crypto industry's largest stablecoin issuer. This article is news reporting and is not investment advice.

Sources

• Paolo Ardoino, keynote at the Plan B Forum, Lugano, Switzerland (November 3, 2026, primary source, as reported by CoinDesk and CryptoBriefing: about 150,000 BTC held, worth roughly $11.5 billion, quote "We have give or take 150,000 bitcoin ourselves. It is not much, but it is honest work.", more than 730 million users, about 30 million wallets added per quarter, Independence Stack outline)
• Tether International, third-quarter 2026 reserve attestation prepared by BDO (primary source, as reported by CoinDesk: $8.37 billion in Bitcoin valued at $83,621.23 per coin as of September 30, 2026, implying about 100,060 BTC, up from about 98,930 at end of June, $191.45 billion in reserve assets against $183.50 billion in liabilities, excess reserves $7.95 billion, up from $4.11 billion in June)
• CoinDesk, Tether holds 150,000 bitcoin worth $11.5 billion, CEO Paolo Ardoino says (November 3, 2026, secondary source: May 2023 policy of allocating up to 15% of net realized operating profits to Bitcoin, self-custody, Tether Investments held separate from USDT reserves, CoinDesk calculations on the Q3 value rise)
• CryptoBriefing via TradingView, Tether CEO says company now holds about 150,000 Bitcoin (November 3, 2026, secondary source: earlier 2026 disclosures in the 96,000 to 100,000 BTC range, $132.4 billion in US Treasury securities including repurchase agreements, privately held ownership of Devasini about 45% and Ardoino about 20%)
• CryptoNews, Tether Bitcoin Holdings Rival Corporate Treasury Giants (November 3, 2026, secondary source: position ahead of every public company except Strategy at 849,327 BTC, about 5.7 times as much, Tether outside the ranking as a private company)