Tether weighs top-10 T-bill rank as GENIUS Act debated

Tether could become a top-10 T-bill buyer this year

USAT chief executive Bo Hines said Tether could become a top-10 T-bill buyer this year, tying the goal to rising stablecoin demand and the launch of USAT. As reported by The Block (theblock.co), Tether’s portfolio already skews heavily to U.S. Treasury bills.

The Block adds that 83.11% of Tether USDT reserves are in Treasury bills, over $122 billion, placing the issuer among the top 20 global T-bill holders. That scale makes the company’s 2026 ambition plausible if reserve composition and circulation keep trending toward short-dated government paper.

Why Tether’s T-bill demand matters for yields and liquidity

Based on a working paper published on arXiv (arxiv.org), Tether held about $98.5 billion in T-bills by Q1 2025, roughly 1.6% of all outstanding Treasury bills, and that demand measurably lowered short-term yields. The mechanism is straightforward: new stablecoin issuance is matched by cash inflows that are deployed into high-quality liquid assets, so persistent growth channels steady buying into the bill complex and can marginally compress front-end funding costs.

As reported by Forbes (forbes.com), policymakers have argued that regulated stablecoins can reinforce dollar demand, while academic and legal voices caution that run risk could force rapid asset sales during stress. In the same vein, concentrated stablecoin buying could improve day-to-day liquidity yet leave markets vulnerable if redemptions spike and issuers shed bills into a thin tape.

Editorial note: After outlining these dynamics, the issuer’s near-term objective has been framed in plain terms.

“Top-10 T-bill buyer this year,” said Bo Hines, CEO of Tether U.S./USAT.

What this means for reserves, regulation, and redemption mechanics

The GENIUS Act stablecoin regulation, as described by Forbes, requires payment stablecoins to maintain 1:1 backing in high‑quality liquid assets such as short-term U.S. T-bills. In practice, that regime encourages short-duration ladders, tight rollover schedules, and daily liquidity buffers so that USDT and USAT can meet redemptions without incurring large realized losses.

Redemption mechanics typically rely on cash, overnight instruments, and rapidly maturing bills before any asset sales, limiting price impact under normal conditions. As reported by the Financial Times (ft.com), ratings analysis has flagged that while most reserves sit in short-term Treasuries, exposure to higher‑risk assets and transparency questions leave room for stress if confidence wavers and withdrawals accelerate.

How top-10 buyer is measured and current ranking context

“Top-10 buyer” is generally assessed by total outstanding T-bill holdings rather than by net purchases over a period. On that basis, the reported $122 billion in bills and the roughly 83% allocation tilt Tether toward the upper ranks, but a formal move into the top 10 would still depend on surpassing large money funds and sovereign holders over the measurement window.

At the time of this writing, broader market context shows risk sentiment fluctuating: according to Nasdaq real‑time pricing, Coinbase Global (COIN) traded near $161.04, up about 10.21% on the day. While not determinative for Treasury bills, shifts in crypto‑linked equities often track liquidity cycles that can influence stablecoin issuance and, by extension, front‑end Treasury demand.