Four US-dollar stablecoin issuers hold roughly $182 billion in US Treasury bills, an amount that would slot them 17th on the Treasury Department’s country-by-country league table.

The amount in overnight Treasury-collateralized repos and Treasury-heavy money market funds would put the group between Norway’s $195.9 billion and Saudi Arabia’s $133.8 billion.

Tether’s USDT tops the cohort. Its first-quarter attestation showed $120 billion in Treasuries, while CEO Paolo Ardoino told CNBC in late May that the firm held “more than $125 billion” and continues to expand.

Circle’s May accountant’s report listed $28.7 billion in T-bills and $26.5 billion in overnight repos, for a combined $55.2 billion backing USDC.

First Digital’s May 31 dashboard showed $1.665 billion in FDUSD reserves, 78% of which is held in Treasury bills, amounting to roughly $1.3 billion.

Paxos’ PayPal USD (PYUSD) uses overnight reverse-repo agreements collateralized 97% by Treasuries. It has $878 million outstanding, which implies roughly $880 million in government debt.

According to US Treasury data from April, those positions reach $182.4 billion, enough to leapfrog South Korea and the United Arab Emirates and fall just shy of Norway.

Treasury paper dominates reserves

Issuers buy short-dated government debt because it settles T-plus-zero at clearing banks, offers daily liquidity, and earns yields now above 5%. 

Tether’s latest assurance showed that Treasuries, repos, and Treasury-only money-market funds represented more than 80% of its collateral, helping drive $1 billion in first-quarter profit.

Circle uses BlackRock’s SEC-registered Circle Reserve Fund to hold its bills and repos, enabling same-day liquidation if redemptions spike.

Ardoino said that issuing stablecoins “creates incremental demand for US debt without relying on the banking system,” citing Tether’s ranking above that of Germany, the UAE, and Spain.

Circle and Paxos have made similar arguments in policy filings, noting that narrowly distributed, highly liquid collateral protects holders during market stress.

Regulatory backdrop

Lawmakers in Washington and Brussels are considering bills that would restrict reserve assets to cash and short-term Treasury securities, maintaining the current composition but limiting diversification into gold or corporate bonds. 

The GENIUS Act, which cleared the Senate in June, would formalize those limits. At the same time, Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regime already bars commodities for euro-pegged coins. 

Stablecoin treasurers say the proposed rules align with their investment profile, though they warn that concentration in one asset class links stablecoin liquidity to Federal Reserve funding conditions.

Mentioned in this article

Crypto asset manager Bitwise says publicly traded companies are increasingly investing in Bitcoin (BTC) as the flagship cryptocurrency transitions from a speculative investment to a more strategic corporate asset.

In a new report, Bitwise says corporate Bitcoin holders grew their collective holdings from 394,131 to 786,857 BTC over a six-month period from November 15th, 2024 to May 15th, 2025.

The increase amounts to 392,726 BTC, which is equivalent to 196,363 BTC acquired per quarter.

Using the data, Bitwise projected the amount of Bitcoin that public companies will likely accumulate over the next six quarters through the end of 2026. 

The model suggests that corporate investors will likely buy 98,181 BTC per quarter if Bitcoin adoption slows by half. Companies will purchase 196,363 BTC per quarter if the pace remains the same and 392,726 BTC per quarter if the adoption rate doubles, as per the model.

In the bull case scenario, public companies can hoard as much as 2.356 million BTC, which represents 11.22% of the total Bitcoin supply, or $259.395 billion based on Bitcoin’s current price of $110,100.

The anticipated inflows in the bear and base case scenarios are 589,000 BTC and 1.178 million BTC, respectively.

Say Bitwise analysts,

“Collectively, these developments signal a new era of Bitcoin adoption in which public companies not only hold Bitcoin but design business models around it. Pioneered by Michael Saylor, the ‘Bitcoin Standard’ corporate playbook of reorienting excess cash into Bitcoin purchases and using a company’s capital structure to fund additional Bitcoin acquisition is becoming a repeatable model.

As more companies adopt the Bitcoin Standard, it reinforces Bitcoin’s role as a corporate treasury asset and educates equity investors on its utility – driving broader institutional acceptance.”

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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

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