Four Tether Executives Are Now Billionaires

Members of the secretive management team behind $83 billion worth of Tether stablecoin have literally minted their own fortunes.

_{By Steven Ehrlich and Nina Bambysheva, Forbes Staff}

Crypto is struggling. Under attack from regulators, the overall value of cryptocurrencies is down approximately 60% from its 2021 highs. But one digital asset company is thriving: stablecoin maker Tether. The secretive British Virgin Islands–based outfit has created a digital dollar with an $83 billion market value, up from about $65 billion just a year ago. In the first three months of 2023, Tether, which is responsible for more than 50% of the entire crypto market’s liquidity, says it posted a $1.5 billion profit.

It employs a simple, low-risk profitmaking model: Customers give the company U.S. dollars in exchange for a blockchain-based token it mints known as USDT (the “T” stands for Tether). Tether holds collateral mostly in the form of Treasury bills, money market funds, bitcoin and secured loans, and earns a market return on these “reserves.” USDTs are always supposed to be redeemable for $1 (ostensibly putting the “stable” in stablecoin) and redeemable on-demand, but Tether customers receive no interest on their holdings.