#tether

#tether

The disruption rippled through several DeFi protocols, including Aave, where large volumes of users unwound positions, many opting for the stablecoin exit route.

Asset prices are in freefall, key legislation hangs by a thread, and members of Crypto Twitter fret it's their turn to learn what it's like to "have fun staying poor." One company, though, is sitting pretty amid all this. That would be Tether, which last week reported $10 billion in profits for 2025, and has amassed so much gold it's now storing bars of the stuff in Swiss bunkers from World War II.

Elliptic, a crypto analytics company, said it had traced at least $507m (377m) of cryptocurrency issued by Tether a company touted by the Reform UK leader passing through accounts that appear to be controlled by Iran's central bank. Elliptic's report tracked what it says is the Iranian central bank's systematic accumulation of Tether stablecoins, a type of crypto that is pegged to the dollar so it can easily be exchanged for hard currency.

The payment is far below the nearly $4.5 billion Celsius originally sought in bitcoin.

Earlier this year, CEO Paolo Ardoino revealed that Tether now holds over 100,000 BTC - worth more than $11 billion - alongside more than 50 tons of gold as part of its reserves. Those holdings make Tether one of the largest corporate owners of Bitcoin globally, a fact that further ties the fate of its business to the world's leading digital asset.

Tether ( Tether, the issuer of the world's largest stablecoin, USDTCRYPTO:USDT), has deepened its push into precious metals with a $100 million investment in Canadian gold royalty company Elemental Altus Royalties. This follows Tether's earlier acquisition of a 37.8% stake in Elemental for $105 million in June, bringing its total ownership to a controlling position.

Gugnin allegedly facilitated over $530 million in transactions for Russian clients linked to sanctioned banks, employing Tether to circumvent US sanctions and export controls.