Tether Statistics 2026: Reserves, Supply, and Regulation

Tether held approximately $191.77 billion in total assets, according to the company’s BDO-prepared attestation, with approximately $183 billion in total token-related liabilities and a record $8.23 billion excess-reserve buffer. USDT supply on TRON pushed to roughly $85 billion in 2026, surpassing Ethereum’s USDT supply for the first time. The data below tracks USDT’s market cap, chain mix, reserves, profitability, and regulatory footprint through May 2026, with MiCA delistings and T3 Financial Crime Unit freezes shaping the picture.

Key Takeaways

• USDT supply sits at $189.5 billion as of May 2026, representing roughly 60% of the entire on-chain stablecoin market.
• The Q1 2026 BDO attestation confirms approximately $191.77 billion in total assets and a record $8.23 billion excess-reserve buffer.
• Direct and indirect exposure to U.S. Treasury bills amounted to approximately $141 billion, positioning Tether as the 17th largest holder of U.S. Treasuries globally.
• USDT supply on TRON pushed to roughly $85 billion, surpassing Ethereum’s USDT supply for the first time.
• Secured loans stand near $14.6 billion, the third-largest item on Tether’s asset chart, despite a December 2022 announcement of Tether’s intention to eliminate secured loans from its reserves by the end of 2023.
• The T3 Financial Crime Unit has frozen over $450 million in illicit assets globally, working with law enforcement agencies across 23 jurisdictions.
• Tether generated approximately $1.04 billion in net profit during Q1 2026, after more than $10 billion in net profit for 2025.

Editor’s Choice

• Tether (USDT) is the largest dollar token in circulation with a supply of $189.5 billion as of May 2026.
• Direct and indirect U.S. Treasury exposure reached approximately $141 billion at the March 31, 2026, snapshot.
• Excess reserves climbed to a record $8.23 billion at the close of Q1 2026.
• Tether reported approximately $1.04 billion in net profit for Q1 2026.
• USDT on TRON reached $85.3 billion in March 2026, surpassing Ethereum’s USDT supply for the first time.
• The T3 Financial Crime Unit has frozen over $450 million in illicit assets since September 2024.
• The CFTC ordered Tether Holdings Limited and Ifinex Inc. to pay fines totaling $42.5 million on October 15, 2021.

Recent Developments

• May 14, 2026: the T3 Financial Crime Unit announced cumulative freezes of over $450 million in illicit assets globally, working with law enforcement agencies across 23 jurisdictions, including the United States, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Bulgaria.
• May 11, 2026: Tether minted about $5 billion in USDT on TRON in two weeks, bringing total new USDT issuance to roughly $6 billion over the past three weeks.
• April 30, 2026: the Q1 2026 BDO attestation was published, confirming approximately $1.04 billion in net profit and a record $8.23 billion excess-reserve buffer.
• April 21, 2026: USDT hit an all-time high market cap of $188 billion, while Circle’s USDC sits at $78.25 billion.
• April 2026: the broader stablecoin sector reached a record $321 billion in total volume, with Tether commanding a 58.9% market share.

USDT Market Cap and Circulating Supply

• USDT sits at a supply of $189.5 billion as of May 2026, the largest dollar token in circulation.
• USDT supply represents roughly 60% of the entire on-chain stablecoin market by DefiLlama’s accounting.
• USDT dominance across all stablecoins sits at 58.69% according to DefiLlama’s latest data.
• USDT is deployed across more than a dozen networks, with Ethereum and Tron together representing more than 95% of USDT’s total circulation.
• USDT’s circulating supply grew by $50 billion over the year, to over $186 billion across 2025.
• USDT hit an all-time high market cap of $188 billion on April 21, 2026.
• The broader stablecoin sector reached a record $321 billion in total volume as of April 2026, with Tether commanding a 58.9% market share.
• The fresh $5 billion May 2026 TRON mint represents roughly 2.6% of Tether’s total circulating supply, pushing its market capitalization to $189.5 billion.

USDT’s growth pace tells a more interesting story. Tether’s circulating supply added roughly $50 billion over the year, to over $186 billion across 2025, then settled near $189.5 billion as of May 2026. The broader stablecoin sector reached a record $321 billion in total volume in the same window.

Source: Tether 2025 full-year attestation press release, DefiLlama, Cryptopolitan

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USDT Reserve Composition

• Tether’s total assets reached approximately $191.77 billion at March 31, 2026, with total liabilities of approximately $183 billion in token-related liabilities.
• Direct and indirect exposure to U.S. Treasury bills amounted to approximately $141 billion at the Q1 2026 snapshot.
• Precious-metal holdings, consisting entirely of physical gold, amounted to approximately $20 billion.
• Bitcoin holdings stood at approximately $7 billion at the Q1 2026 snapshot.
• Excess reserves climbed to a record $8.23 billion, computed as total assets minus total liabilities.
• Reserve composition data shows roughly 82% US Treasuries, 10% Money Market Funds, 5% Repo Agreements.
• Secured loans comprise $14.6 billion in reserve assets, the third-largest asset line on Tether’s chart.
• BDO prepares the report under the standard attestation framework applied to stablecoin reserve reports.

The reserve mix tilts heavily toward a reserve base concentrated in short-duration, high-quality liquid instruments, with gold and bitcoin sitting as the two diversifier sleeves. Total assets came in at approximately $191.77 billion against approximately $183 billion in token-related liabilities, leaving a $8.23 billion surplus that BDO confirmed. The same Treasury-tilt shows up in adjacent DeFi market data, where USDT functions as the most-used base asset for lending and DEX liquidity.

By the numbers: The Q1 2026 BDO attestation puts Tether’s total assets at approximately $191.77 billion, with approximately $141 billion in direct and indirect Treasury exposure and a record $8.23 billion excess-reserve buffer. The composition mix runs roughly 82% US Treasuries, 10% Money Market Funds, 5% Repo Agreements.

Source: Tether Q1 2026 BDO attestation press release, StableRegistry

USDT on TRON vs Ethereum vs Other Chains

• USDT supply on TRON reached $85.3 billion in March 2026, surpassing Ethereum’s USDT supply for the first time.
• TRC-20 accounted for 52% of the total USDT supply by January 2026.
• USDT dominance on Tron sits at 97.85% of all stablecoins on that network.
• TRC-20 USDT handles 2,000 transactions per second at $0.0003 fees with 3-second confirmations.
• TRC-20 USDT averaged 14 million daily transfers in Q4 2025.
• Ethereum’s base layer managed approximately 1.2 million transactions per day during the same period.
• Tron now handles over 50% of global stablecoin volume by transfer count.
• Ethereum plus Tron together represent more than 95% of USDT’s total circulation.

The chain-mix reversal stands as the most consequential structural shift in USDT’s history. The move of weight from Ethereum to TRON tracks remittance and emerging-market flows where transfer cost matters more than DeFi composability, a pattern the data has been pointing at for two years before the supply lines finally crossed. TRC-20’s $0.0003 per-transfer fees and 3-second confirmations explain why USDT’s center of gravity now sits with TRON’s roughly $85.3 billion in March 2026 supply.

Source: DefiLlama, FXStreet TRON USDT supply analysis

Tether Quarterly Profit and Excess Reserves

• Tether generated approximately $1.04 billion in net profit during Q1 2026.
• Excess reserves climbed to a record $8.23 billion at the close of Q1 2026.
• Full-year 2025 net profit topped more than $10 billion, driven by growth in USDT and increased exposure to U.S. Treasuries.
• Year-end 2025 excess reserves sat at $6.3 billion, in excess reserves backing $186.5 billion in USDT liabilities.
• Quarter-over-quarter, excess reserves rose from $6.3 billion at year-end 2025 to a record $8.23 billion at Q1 2026 close.
• Reserves remain concentrated in short-duration, high-quality liquid instruments per BDO’s Q1 2026 assurance.
• Annualized profit-on-liabilities yield works out from approximately $1.04 billion in net profit against approximately $183 billion in token-related liabilities, extrapolated to four quarters.

Profit growth shows the macroeconomic tailwind clearly. Rising USDT supply combined with elevated short-term Treasury yields turns each new dollar of issuance into a yield-bearing asset for Tether, which is why excess reserves rose nearly $8.23 billion at Q1 2026 close versus the $6.3 billion year-end 2025 figure.

USDT Transaction Volume Across Networks

• Tron processed $7.9 trillion in USDT transfers during 2025.
• TRC-20 USDT averaged 14 million daily transfers in Q4 2025.
• Ethereum’s base layer averaged approximately 1.2 million transactions per day during the same window.
• TRC-20 USDT throughput sits near 2,000 transactions per second.
• The broader stablecoin sector reached a record $321 billion in total volume as of April 2026.
• Tether commanded a 58.9% market share of that record stablecoin volume.
• The fresh $5 billion May 2026 TRON mint represents roughly 2.6% of Tether’s total circulating supply.
• Tron now handles over 50% of global stablecoin volume by transfer count.

Daily transfer counts tell the cost-sensitivity story. TRC-20’s $0.0003 per-transfer fee and 3-second confirmation make it the rails of choice for remittance corridors, exchange settlement, and any flow where the dollar amount per transaction is small enough that Ethereum gas would eat the principal. The crypto exchange market data tracks the same cost asymmetry in settlement venues.

Source: FXStreet TRON USDT transfer analysis, Cryptopolitan stablecoin volume snapshot

Tether’s U.S. Treasury Holdings and Macro Position

• Direct and indirect U.S. Treasury exposure reached approximately $141 billion at the March 31, 2026, snapshot.
• That positions Tether as the 17th largest holder of U.S. Treasuries globally.
• Direct Treasury exposure stood at $122 billion in direct exposure by the end of 2025.
• Including overnight reverse repurchase agreements, exposure climbed to $141 billion including overnight reverse repurchase agreements at year-end 2025.
• Treasury exposure represents 82% US Treasuries in Tether’s reserve composition.
• Money Market Funds add another 10% Money Market Funds to the composition mix.
• Reverse repos and short-duration paper push the structural backbone of USDT’s reserves toward a reserve base concentrated in short-duration, high-quality liquid instruments.

Treasury concentration is the structural backbone of USDT’s reserve story. The 17th largest holder of U.S. Treasuries globally ranking puts Tether ahead of several sovereign nations on the Treasury International Capital data and turns USDT issuance into a meaningful demand vector for short-duration U.S. government paper. The growth from $122 billion in direct exposure at year-end 2025 to roughly $141 billion of direct and indirect exposure by Q1 2026 marks the most material macro position in the stablecoin sector.

Tether Secured Loans, Bitcoin, and Gold Holdings

• Secured loans sit near $14.6 billion, equal to about 8% of Tether’s reserves at Q1 2026.
• Tether announced in December 2022 its intention to eliminate secured loans from its reserves, promising to be rid of them by the end of 2023, yet the line item has continued to grow.
• The secured-loan balance is now approximately double the size of the so-called equity, and the third-largest item on Tether’s asset chart.
• Outstanding loans reached $14.6 billion as of September 30, up from $10.1 billion at the end of June.
• Gold holdings amounted to approximately $20 billion at Q1 2026, consisting entirely of physical gold.
• Tether held about 116 metric tons of physical gold as of Q3 2025.
• Bitcoin holdings stood at approximately $7 billion at the Q1 2026 BDO snapshot.
• Disclosed Bitcoin holdings total more than 96,000 BTC.

The secured loan line is the part of Tether’s reserve story most often raised by independent researchers. Between the $10.1 billion at the end of June reading and the $14.6 billion as of September 30 reading, the balance kept climbing through 2025, against a pledge to zero the line by year-end 2023.

Worth noting: Tether’s December 2022 statement pledged to eliminate the secured-loan line item by year-end 2023. At Q1 2026, the balance sits at $14.6 billion, equal to about 8% of Tether’s reserves, the third-largest item on Tether’s asset chart. The line item grew from $10.1 billion at the end of June to $14.6 billion as of September 30.

Tether and MiCA: EU Stablecoin Regulation

• Since March 31, 2025, MiCA’s stablecoin rules became enforceable, which triggered delisting actions across major exchanges.
• Coinbase Europe was among the earliest to delist USDT in December 2024, as part of broader efforts to align with MiCA.
• Crypto.com informed EU customers it would stop offering USDT by January 31, 2025, with users given until March 31 to convert or withdraw their holdings.
• Kraken placed USDT in sell-only mode starting March 24, 2025, with trading fully disabled by March 31.
• Binance announced in March 2025 the delisting of nine stablecoins, including USDT, for EEA users.
• MiCA requires any stablecoin pegged to a fiat currency to be issued by a regulated entity within the EU and receive authorization from a National Competent Authority.
• Outside the EEA, OKX and other non-EU venues continued to list USDT pairs unaffected by MiCA enforcement.

The MiCA enforcement window cleared the EEA of regulated USDT spot trading in a four-month cascade. Tether has not publicly committed to MiCA authorization, which is why the delistings persist; the rule applies to the venue offering USDT, not the issuer’s home jurisdiction.

Key finding: MiCA’s stablecoin rules became enforceable on March 31, 2025, requiring any stablecoin pegged to a fiat currency to be issued by a regulated entity within the EU with a National Competent Authority license. Coinbase Europe, Crypto.com, Kraken, and Binance announced delisting actions across major exchanges in the four months leading up to enforcement.

Source: DLNews MiCA delisting timeline

Tether’s Enforcement Footprint (T3 FCU and Asset Freezes)

• The T3 Financial Crime Unit launched in September 2024 as a rapid-response system aimed at recognizing and disrupting illegal use of USDT, mainly on the TRON blockchain.
• T3 FCU has frozen over $450 million in illicit assets globally since launch.
• The unit works with law enforcement agencies across 23 jurisdictions, including the United States, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Bulgaria.
• T3 FCU reported a 43.9% increase in intercepted illicit proceeds in 2025.
• Categories spanned hacks, DPRK-linked activity, terrorist financing, and violent crime cases.
• Operation Lusocoin, a Brazilian Federal Police investigation aided by T3 FCU, froze more than 3 billion reals (about $598.9 million) in assets.
• Operation Lusocoin freezes included 4.3 million USDT tied to a criminal network.

Enforcement scale is now a defining feature of USDT’s footprint, not a side note. The T3 FCU cumulative figure of over $450 million in illicit assets globally sits alongside the 43.9% increase in intercepted illicit proceeds in 2025, and the multi-year trajectory points toward higher cumulative totals at the next disclosure window. The pattern mirrors what the SEC crypto enforcement data tracks at the U.S. regulator level, where joint-action models multiply individual-actor reach.

The takeaway: T3 Financial Crime Unit cumulative freezes reached over $450 million in illicit assets globally across 23 jurisdictions since the unit’s launch in September 2024. Operation Lusocoin alone froze about $598.9 million in Brazilian assets, including 4.3 million USDT.

Source: Tether T3 FCU $450 million press release

USDT vs USDC Market Share Comparison

• USDT hit an all-time high market cap of $188 billion on April 21, 2026, while USDC sat at $78.25 billion.
• USDC’s market capitalization increased 73% to $75.12 billion while USDT added 36% to $186.6 billion (data from early 2026).
• In 2024, USDC grew by 77% compared with USDT’s 50%.
• USDT now owns 63% of the stablecoin market, while Circle’s USDC sits at roughly 25%.
• Tether and USDC together control over 80% of global stablecoin value by market cap as of October 2025.
• Circle is a publicly traded U.S. company, and accounting firm Deloitte issues a monthly attestation that each USDC is fully backed by reserves.
• Tether commissions BDO, a top-five global independent accounting firm, for quarterly ISAE 3000 (Revised) attestations on its reserve composition.

USDC and USDT operate under different compliance models, and the gap shapes how each token grows. USDC’s faster percentage growth in 2024 of 77% compared with USDT’s 50% reflects post-MiCA EU listings, where USDC remains tradeable while USDT does not, but USDT’s larger absolute base keeps its dominance share well above USDC’s at roughly 63% of the stablecoin market. The crypto exchange market share data shows the same concentration pattern at the venue layer, where leading exchanges drive most USDT spot volume.

Tether’s Regulatory History (NYAG and CFTC Settlements)

• Bitfinex and Tether settled with the New York Attorney General in late February 2021, paying an $18.5 million fine.
• The NYAG had been investigating Tether and Bitfinex over allegations that they tried to cover up $850 million in losses.
• As part of the settlement, Tether agreed to give state officials quarterly reports for the next two years detailing the composition of Tether’s reserves by type and percentage.
• The CFTC ordered Tether Holdings Limited and Ifinex Inc. to pay fines totaling $42.5 million on October 15, 2021.
• The CFTC order split between a civil monetary penalty of $41 million, with Bitfinex directed to pay a $1.5 million fine.
• The CFTC found Tether held sufficient fiat reserves in its accounts to back USDT tether tokens in circulation for only 27.6% of the days in a 26-month sample time period from 2016 through 2018.
• The order found that Tether relied upon unregulated entities and certain third parties to hold funds comprising the reserves, comingled reserve funds with Bitfinex’s operational and customer funds.

These settlements bracketed Tether’s pre-attestation era. The CFTC’s $42.5 million order on October 15, 2021, followed the NYAG’s $18.5 million fine eight months later, and the resulting disclosure mandate set the template for the quarterly BDO attestations that continue today.

Source: CFTC press release 8450-21, CNBC reporting on the NYAG settlement

Common Questions

Is USDT safe in 2026?

USDT’s safety profile in 2026 rests on the BDO-attested Q1 2026 figures of approximately $191.77 billion in total assets against approximately $183 billion in token-related liabilities, leaving a record $8.23 billion excess-reserve buffer. Reserves stay concentrated in short-duration, high-quality liquid instruments, with approximately $141 billion in U.S. Treasury exposure and $14.6 billion in reserve assets in secured loans as the most-watched line.

Why is USDT delisted in the EU?

USDT is delisted on EEA-licensed exchanges because MiCA requires any stablecoin pegged to a fiat currency to be issued by a regulated entity within the EU and receive authorization from a National Competent Authority. Tether has not obtained that authorization, so EEA venues, including Coinbase Europe, Crypto.com, Kraken, and Binance EEA, delisted USDT between December 2024 and March 2025.

Who audits Tether?

BDO, a top-five global independent accounting firm, prepares Tether’s quarterly attestation reports under ISAE 3000 (Revised) assurance. Attestations differ from full financial audits because they confirm the reserve report as of the snapshot date but do not opine on the company’s complete financials.

Did Tether settle with the NYAG?

Bitfinex and Tether settled with the New York Attorney General in late February 2021, paying an $18.5 million fine. The settlement required quarterly reports for the next two years detailing the composition of Tether’s reserves by type and percentage, a disclosure cadence that fed into the current BDO attestation regime.

Conclusion

Tether closed Q1 2026 with approximately $191.77 billion in total assets, approximately $183 billion in token-related liabilities, and a record $8.23 billion excess-reserve buffer, while USDT circulating supply settled near $189.5 billion as of May 2026. The chain-mix reversal that put TRON USDT supply at $85.3 billion in March 2026, surpassing Ethereum’s USDT supply for the first time, the secured-loan balance at $14.6 billion, equal to about 8% of Tether’s reserves against a 2022 pledge to zero it, and T3 FCU’s over $450 million in illicit assets globally in cumulative freezes together reshape how USDT’s footprint reads relative to the 2024 baseline.

Across CoinLaw’s coverage of stablecoin issuance over the past four years, the pattern that holds is the gap between the headline reserve number and the second-tier line items where the structural questions actually live. Treasuries deliver the trust story, secured loans and enforcement totals carry the policy story, and the chain mix tells the demand story.