What is the secret behind Tether's 99% profit margin and its $15 billion profit within a year

Deng Tong, Golden Finance

Recently, Nate Geraci, President of The ETF Store, posted on X platform: “While U.S. politicians debate whether stablecoins should be allowed to pay interest… it’s worth reminding: Tether will this year earn a profit of 15 billion USD with a profit margin of up to 99%.”

What recent acquisitions and investments does this giant have? How has it managed to achieve such a high profit margin of 99%?

1. Improving the Cryptocurrency Business Map

1. Creating fiat-pegged tokens

On December 9, the Tether stablecoin USDT was officially recognized as a “fiat-pegged token” at the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). The licensing authority can provide regulated custody and trading services, marking a significant step forward in the UAE’s stablecoin regulation. USDT issued by Tether has been officially recognized as a reference fiat currency token on multiple blockchains such as Aptos, Cosmos, Near, and others. This layout helps Tether open the door to the Middle Eastern compliant digital asset market, leveraging Abu Dhabi’s regional financial hub status to further expand its influence and circulation of stablecoins in global compliant markets.

2. Mobile Payments

On December 9, Tether-supported mobile payment app Oobit announced a partnership with Bakkt to launch officially in the U.S. The “touch-and-go” solution integrates non-custodial wallets like Base, Binance, MetaMusk, Phantom, and Trust Wallet, allowing users to spend cryptocurrencies directly via iOS and Android devices. Merchants can receive fiat settlements in real-time through the existing Visa payment network. The collaboration between Tether and Oobit began as early as last year. In 2024, Oobit raised 25 million USD in Series A funding, led by Tether, with investors including Solana co-founders. This funding will support subsequent technological iterations and global market expansion.

In October 2025, Tether announced an investment in Kotani Pay, an African-based crypto payment company, aiming to connect Web3 applications with local African payment channels, facilitating easier access to digital assets for African users, lowering financial participation barriers, and promoting financial inclusion and blockchain finance development in Africa.

3. Digital Asset Lending

On November 18, Tether announced a strategic investment in digital asset lending platform Ledn. The move aims to expand credit channels supporting individuals and enterprises to obtain loans without selling their digital assets. Ledn focuses on Bitcoin-backed loans, having issued over 2.8 billion USD in loans since its inception, with more than 1 billion USD in loans in 2025, marking its strongest annual performance. Its annual recurring revenue (ARR) has exceeded 100 million USD.

On November 15, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated in an interview: Tether has provided approximately 1.5 billion USD in credit support to commodity traders, including cash and its dollar-pegged stablecoin USDT. Tether is currently focusing on traditional commodities like agricultural products and oil, planning to further expand its exposure in this sector.

4. Exchanges

On August 7, Tether led a 30 million EUR funding round for Spanish crypto exchange Bit2Me through its Tether Ventures, acquiring minority equity. Bit2Me has been authorized by Spanish securities regulators, becoming the first Spanish-speaking fintech company with an EU MiCA license. It plans to use the funds to expand into Latin America, especially Argentina.

5. Blockchain Forensics

In July, Tether announced a strategic investment in blockchain forensics company Crystal Intelligence to combat cryptocurrency crimes, with undisclosed investment amount. This allows Tether to directly utilize Crystal’s real-time risk monitoring, fraud detection, and regulatory intelligence tools, enhancing its ability to help law enforcement agencies track suspicious activities globally. With rising crypto-related scams and fraud, Tether is committed to curbing illegal use of its USDT stablecoin. This move also supports its broader efforts toward crypto compliance, having previously helped 255 law enforcement agencies in 55 jurisdictions freeze over 2.7 billion USD worth of criminal-related stablecoins.

2. Mining Industry

1. Uruguay

Tether initially announced in May 2023 the launch of a “sustainable Bitcoin mining operation” in Uruguay, aiming to leverage the country’s renewable energy for mining. On November 28, a Tether spokesperson confirmed that due to rising energy costs, Tether has suspended its Bitcoin mining operations in Uruguay but remains committed to long-term projects in Latin America. Tether has officially notified Uruguay’s labor department about the suspension and has laid off 30 employees. The original plan was to invest 500 million USD in mining in Uruguay.

2. Paraguay

In November 2023, Tether announced plans to build a Bitcoin mine in Paraguay with a capacity of 40-70 MW. The key advantage is the low electricity costs in Paraguay, which account for about 80% of mining costs. Low electricity prices can significantly reduce operational expenses. The mine has since gone into operation and has become one of Tether’s major mining nodes in South America.

3. El Salvador

In June 2023, Tether officially announced participation in El Salvador’s “Volcano Energy” large-scale renewable energy project with an investment of 1 billion USD. The project is located in El Paraíso municipality, Santa Ana province, planning to build a 241 MW renewable energy park, including 169 MW of solar PV and 72 MW of wind power. Tether provides not only funding but also technical support in energy, hardware, and communications. Once operational, the initial hash rate will exceed 1.3 exahashes/sec, and upon completion, it will rank among the top 20 Bitcoin mining pools globally.

4. Brazil

In September 2024, Tether partnered with South American agricultural company Adecoagro. Tether invested 100 million USD to acquire 9.8% of Adecoagor’s shares; on April 30, 2025, Tether further acquired a 70% stake, leading to major board adjustments. On July 3, 2025, both parties signed a memorandum of understanding to initiate a pilot project for renewable energy-driven Bitcoin mining.

5. Bitdeer

In May 2024, Tether made its first investment in Bitdeer, acquiring approximately 18.6 million shares via Tether International for 100 million USD, and obtaining an option to buy 5 million shares at 10 USD per share. Between February 26 and March 13, 2025, Tether purchased an additional 18.2 million USD worth of A-class shares in Bitdeer. After this increase, Tether, through its two affiliated firms, holds nearly 32 million shares, representing 21.4% of its circulating shares, including 26.7 million shares bought for over 138.7 million USD and nearly 5.2 million warrants. This investment is a key move to strengthen Tether’s influence in the sustainable Bitcoin mining sector.

3. AI and Cutting-edge Technologies

1. Robotics

On December 8, news emerged that Tether is supporting the development of a new industrial humanoid robot designed to handle dangerous and physically demanding tasks in factories and logistics centers. Tether, together with AMD Ventures, Italy’s national AI fund, and other investors, participated in a 70 million EUR funding round for Generative Bionics, a spin-off of the Polytechnic University of Milan.

The “physical AI” humanoid robot will operate in human-designed environments, capable of lifting, handling, and repetitive tasks that traditional robotic arms find challenging. For Tether, this investment aligns with its CEO Paolo Ardoino’s “shift toward supporting digital and physical infrastructure” strategy. These projects aim to expand the company’s scope beyond stablecoins and reduce its reliance on increasingly centralized oversight by large tech firms.

On November 16, Tether’s parent company considered investing 1.16 billion USD into Neura Robotics, a rapidly growing German robotics firm. Neura specializes in developing humanoid robots, with an estimated valuation between 9.29 billion USD and 11.6 billion USD.

2. Large Language Models

On December 2, Tether Data announced the launch of the large language model framework QVAC Fabric, enabling users to run, train, and personalize large language models directly on everyday hardware such as consumer GPUs, laptops, and smartphones—tasks that previously required high-end cloud servers or NVIDIA-specialized systems. Now, they can be performed on existing user devices. The model supports training on various GPUs, including AMD, Intel, NVIDIA, Apple Silicon, and mobile chips.

A major breakthrough is its ability to fine-tune models on mobile GPUs like Qualcomm Adreno and ARM Mali. This is the first production-ready framework capable of training modern large language models on smartphone-level hardware. It opens the door for personalized AI that learns directly from user devices, protecting privacy and allowing AI to operate offline. It also supports next-generation, highly resilient, and damage-tolerant edge AI applications.

On October 24, Tether Data’s AI research arm QVAC released a synthetic dataset called QVAC Genesis I for training STEM-focused AI models. It also launched its first consumer app, QVAC Workbench, a comprehensive workspace demonstrating AI’s potential on local devices. Currently targeting AI enthusiasts, advanced users, and researchers, QVAC Workbench supports various LLMs and AI models such as Llama, Medgemma, Qwen, SmolVLM, Whisper, and more. The app is available for Android (soon iOS) and desktop platforms (Windows, macOS, Linux), offering the most comprehensive device support among similar products.

3. Brain-Computer Interfaces

In April 2024, Tether invested 200 million USD in Blackrock Neurotech, becoming a major shareholder. The funds are mainly used to advance Blackrock Neurotech’s innovative medical solutions for over 40 patients toward commercialization, and to strengthen R&D to secure its leadership in brain-computer interfaces. In June 2025, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated that this brain interface company’s technology has surpassed Elon Musk’s Neuralink.

4. Media Tools and Public Relations

1. Media Tools

In December 2024, Rumble announced a final agreement to receive a strategic investment of 775 million USD from Tether. Tether bought 103,333,333 Class A common shares at 7.50 USD per share, and about 250 million USD will be used to attract creators, pursue strategic acquisitions, and upgrade Rumble Cloud infrastructure.

In October 2025, two key collaborations were revealed: first, Tether plans to launch a new stablecoin USAT on Rumble platform in the U.S., expected to be launched in December; second, it will enable Bitcoin tipping for Rumble creators, initially planned for early to mid-December. On November 24, Rumble CEO announced the launch of Rumble Wallet and began testing BTC, XAUT, and USDT tipping functions.

2. Public Image and PR

On October 23, the White House released a list of donors to the White House reception hall, including Tether. For Tether, this isn’t just philanthropy but a strategic move to strengthen its ties with U.S. policymakers—following the U.S. passing the GENIUS stablecoin regulation and the SEC withdrawing several crypto industry lawsuits, Tether aims to solidify its regulatory influence in the U.S. and push its stablecoin business for more favorable policies.

5. Physical Asset Investments

1. Gold Accumulation

In September, Tether started discussions about investing in gold mining. It plans to invest across every stage of the gold supply chain, including mining, refining, trading, and licensing. Currently, Tether’s gold reserves are maintained at 116 tons, worth approximately 12.9 billion USD, comparable to the gold reserves of central banks of countries like South Korea and Hungary, positioning it within the medium range of global sovereign reserves.

2. Acquisition of Italian football club Juventus

On December 12, Tether announced plans to acquire Juventus FC entirely. It submitted a fully cash-based binding offer to the controlling shareholder Exor for 65.4% of the shares, with plans to make a public tender offer for remaining shares after closing, aiming for full control. Tether states that if successful, it will inject 1 billion USD into the club. CEO Paolo Ardoino, a lifelong Juventus fan, emphasizes that Tether’s strong financial position will provide long-term, stable capital support. “Tether is financially robust and plans to support Juventus with stable funds and a long-term outlook.” Currently, Tether holds over 10% of Juventus shares.

After the announcement, Juventus fan tokens JUV surged 30% shortly.

However, Exor rejected Tether’s bid, reaffirming it has no intention to sell its Juventus stake.

Note: Exor is a holding group controlled by the Agnelli family, connected to Juventus since 1923. It holds 65.4% of Juventus and has led multiple capital increases over recent years.

6. Conclusion

Tether has transformed from a simple stablecoin issuer into a vast investment empire spanning digital finance, frontier technology, energy mining, media, communications, and real assets. Its 99% ultra-high profit margin stems from USDT’s core advantage as a global liquidity hub for cryptocurrencies and its expanding ambitions. Starting with stablecoin issuance, Tether is injecting capital into traditional tech sectors, aiming to reshape the development landscape of both the crypto industry and traditional industries.