Tether, the company behind USDT, boosted its Bitcoin reserves again at the end of 2025. On Dec. 31, it moved 8,888.8888888 BTC, valued at roughly $780 million at the time, into its main reserve wallet. After the transfer, the wallet held about 96,185 BTC, reinforcing Tether’s steady push to keep Bitcoin alongside more traditional reserve assets like U.S. Treasuries.
A repeatable quarter-end pattern
This was not a one-off move. The same wallet history shows a similar transfer on Sept. 30, 2025, when Tether also moved 8,888.8888888 BTC. The “Lucky 8s” figure has become a calling card, and the timing lines up with a familiar routine: quarter-end additions that look planned rather than random.
If you’ve ever waited until the last day of the month to rebalance your budget, you get the idea. Tether appears to do something similar, but at a much larger scale and on-chain.
Why Tether keeps stacking BTC
Tether has pointed in the past to a disciplined allocation approach, including a plan to put a slice of quarterly profits into Bitcoin. That strategy helps explain why these transfers often cluster around quarter closes.
Here’s what this kind of reserve mix signals to the market:
- Tether wants diversification beyond cash and Treasury bills.
- Bitcoin acts as a long-term upside bet inside the reserve pool.
- On-chain movements give traders a near real-time look at wallet changes.
However, larger Bitcoin exposure can raise eyebrows for a dollar-pegged stablecoin. Critics argue that volatile assets could pressure confidence during sharp crypto drawdowns. At the same time, Tether has highlighted strong profits, excess reserves, and a heavy Treasury position in recent reserve updates.
Therefore, the debate heading into 2026 looks clear: supporters see a strong, diversified balance sheet, while skeptics want fuller transparency and less risk inside stablecoin reserves.
