In an astonishing demonstration of financial might, Tether, the issuer of the largest stablecoin in the world, said it produced a whopping $10 billion profit during the first three quarters of 2025. The announcement on Friday brings the privately held cryptocurrency firm into the same upper echelon as Wall Street’s greatest titans. The crypto company’s performance isn’t just impressive for the digital asset world; it’s now directly rivaling—and in some cases, surpassing—the earnings of America’s top financial institutions.
By the Numbers: Tether vs. Wall Street
Tether’s $10 billion net income so far this year has already eclipsed the $8.9 billion profit notched by Bank of America during the same period. It also nearly doubles the $5.5 billion reported by U.S. Bank. Perhaps more strikingly, the stablecoin issuer is within striking distance of investment banking royalty. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have reeled in net annual incomes of $12.4 billion and $12.56 billion, respectively, figures that Tether is on pace to challenge.
After posting a $13 billion annual profit last year—coming within 10% of Goldman’s 2024 earnings—Tether is on track to significantly exceed that performance in 2025. Of course, there are still bigger fish. JPMorgan, the largest U.S. bank, remains in a league of its own, bringing home a colossal $44 billion in net income this year, more than quadrupling Tether’s performance.
The Profit Engine: How Tether Does It
So, how does a company that issues a token (USDT) pegged one-to-one with the U.S. dollar make so much money? The answer isn’t complicated. Tether’s profits are not derived from exotic crypto trading but from the most traditional investment of all: U.S. Treasuries.
When a user buys USDT, they give Tether U.S. dollars. Tether then takes those dollars and invests them in a reserve, primarily holding them in U.S. Treasury bills. In the current high-interest-rate environment, the yield, or return, on these government bonds is substantial. Tether simply pockets that interest as profit. With a supply of over $184 billion in USDT, that’s already a big amount of interest.
A Hoard Larger Than Many Countries
The size of Tether’s operation is now so large that it has become a player in the global financial system. The company reports that its reserves now include $135 billion worth of U.S. Treasuries. This massive holding means Tether, a single private company, now holds more U.S. debt than entire nations like Germany, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea. For perspective, the world’s top holder of U.S. Treasuries, Japan, possesses about $1.2 trillion worth.
A ‘Financial Inclusion Success Story’
Despite its systemic importance, Tether’s focus has historically been outside the United States. CEO Paolo Ardoino recently celebrated this, calling USDT the “biggest financial inclusion success story in the history of humanity, with more than 500 million users across the emerging markets and developing countries.” In these cases, USDT may often be used as a stable substitute to their local and more volatile currency, in addition to giving them instantaneous access to the global marketplace.
Tether is making a more deliberate push at the moment to garner access to the U.S. market. This pivot is driven by two key events: the re-election of President Donald Trump, who has styled himself as crypto-friendly, and the recent passage of a clear legal framework for stablecoins in the U.S.
The U.S. Push and the Audit Question
With new regulations in place, Tether plans to launch a new, U.S.-focused stablecoin called USAT by the end of the year. This new token will be tailored to be fully compliant with American regulations. This move marks a significant strategy shift for the company, which is headquartered in El Salvador and has previously avoided direct involvement in the U.S. market.
Despite its astronomical profits and growing influence, one major question continues to shadow the company. Tether has never submitted itself to a full, comprehensive internal audit by one of the “Big Four” accounting firms. While it provides regular attestations of its reserves, this lack of a top-tier audit remains a point of contention for regulators and skeptics, even as its profits rival the very banks it seeks to compete against.
