Tether reduces commercial paper exposure to below $50M, Treasury bills rise to 58.1% of reserve

Insider information on Tether’s reserve revealed that as of Sept. 30, the shadlecoin issuer had increased its U.S. Treasury bills to 58.1% of its reserves while reducing its commercial paper exposure to below $50 million.

According to the last official report on June 30, about 43.5% of Tether’s assets — roughly $28.8 billion — were held in U.S. Treasury bills, while less than 25% — around $8.4 billion — represented its exposure to commercial papers.

The stablecoin issuer had promised to reduce its commercial paper holdings down to zero while having more of its reserve assets in U.S. Treasury bills.

A recent portfolio update shared by Tether CTO  Paolo Ardoino suggested that the stablecoin issuer is keeping true to its promise.

#tether portfolio update. Tether as of 30 September 2022 holds ~58.1% of its assets in US t-bills. Up from 43.5% on June 30 2022.
CP exposure is < 50M now.@Tether_to

— Paolo Ardoino 🕳🥊 (@paoloardoino) October 3, 2022

A fact check against Tether’s public transparency page records its current U.S. Treasury bills at 54.57%, while its commercial paper exposure is approximately 16%.

According to Ardonia, it will usually take about 45 days for the official report to be reflected; however, the auditing team is working to reduce the timeline.

CryptoSlate reached out to Tether and confirmed that the update will be available in its next quarterly report. A Tether spokesperson said:

“Portfolio updates to look out for include a reduction in commercial papers, now making up less than $50M of its reserves and the holding of 58.1% of its assets in U.S. Treasury Bills.”

Tether added that it was moving away from commercial paper into Treasury bills as it needs a more conservative portfolio to remain the largest stablecoin by trading volume.