Confirmed as a CEO statement, with a disclosure gap: Paolo Ardoino said Tether holds about 150,000 bitcoin. The company’s Q3 reserve report implies roughly 100,060.
Watcher Guru posted early on November 3 that Ardoino put the figure near 150,000 BTC, worth over $11.5 billion. CoinDesk and Decrypt quote him at the Plan ₿ Forum in Lugano: “We have give or take 150,000 bitcoin ourselves. It’s not much, but it’s honest work.”
Tether’s Q3 attestation lists $8.37 billion of bitcoin at $83,621.23 a coin — about 100,060 BTC, up roughly 1,130 from June. Bitcoin Magazine flags the same ~50,000-coin gap. Ardoino did not say where the extra coins sit or when they were acquired, so the remark is not evidence of a fresh 50,000 BTC buy.
Tether has long said proprietary investments funded from profits sit outside USDT reserves. That structure can explain a higher company-wide total without rewriting the attestation. It also leaves investors reading a speech against a narrower audit line.
The skeptical read: a keynote is not an attestation. Until Tether maps the extra coins to a reportable bucket, treat 150,000 as management’s broader claim and ~100,060 as the reserve figure that BDO attested.
Read the Watcher Guru post on Ardoino’s figure
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