Deltec, the Bahamas-based bank that holds the reserves for the cryptocurrency space’s leading stablecoin issuer Tether, has revealed it has a “large position” in bitcoin and has been buying BTC since it was trading at $9,300.
In a 2020 review video the firm published, first spotted by Twitter user lenne, the firm’s Chief Investment Officer Hugo Rogers said:
- It also includes a large position in bitcoin, which has received a lot of attention recently. We bought bitcoin for our clients at about $9,300, so that worked very well through 2020. And we expect it to work well in 2021 as the liquidity crisis continues to run hot.
Data shows that Tether’s USDT stablecoin has a circulating supply of 24.3 billion tokens. On top of that, Tether’s transparency page shows 40 million EURT, 23 million CNHT, and 47,600 XAUT are also in circulation.
Each stablecoin Tether issues is pegged to the value of a fiat currency. USDT is pegged to the value of the USD, and according to Tether its reserves include “traditional currency and cash equivalents,” and from “time to time” they may include “other assets and receivables from loans made by Tether to third parties.”
Deltec’s move, as Decrypt reports, has seen some question whether USDT is at least in part backed by BTC. Deltec, however, is believed to have various other clients in the cryptocurrency space, including popular derivatives, exchange FTX.
Larry Cermak, director of research at The Block, has said that the “vast majority of market makers, OTC desks and exchanges” have bank accounts at Deltec, which could mean the firm has been buying BTC for other clients and not Tether itself.
It’s worth noting that cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, which shares management with Tether, is rumored to own a large stake in Deltec.
Featured image via Pixabay.
