Article by: JW, Techub News
The start of 2026 is colder than expected. We thought that after enduring a long downturn, spring was just around the corner, but the reality is a sudden “cold snap” in spring.
It’s like scrolling through Twitter and seeing those “Builder” types boast loudly, only to turn around and see them secretly change their status to “Open to work” on LinkedIn.
Recent news is also evident: Jack Dorsey, the Bitcoin fundamentalist and co-founder of Twitter and founder of Block (formerly Square), can no longer hold on. According to Bloomberg, Block is launching layoffs, cutting another 10% of staff. Even as a payments giant holding Cash App—an printing press for money—for the so-called “efficiency improvements,” they still have to wield the sword and cut.
What does the industry look like now? Exchanges are laying off staff to cut compliance costs, NFT platforms are downsizing due to lack of trading volume, and GameFi projects are dissolving after tokens hit zero. This isn’t just a crypto winter; it’s a global tech industry-wide “de-fatting and muscle-building” process.
But amid this wave of layoffs, one anomaly stands out: not only are they not laying off staff, but they are aggressively hiring and even “spreading coins.”
Yes, it’s Tether.
The once-criticized Tether, under SEC scrutiny, fined by the New York Attorney General, and shouted at for years by bears claiming it would “explode,” is reportedly planning to expand its staff to 450 employees, according to Cointelegraph.
You might laugh: 450 people? Binance still has thousands after layoffs, and Coinbase also employs thousands.
But look at productivity. Tether manages over a hundred billion dollars in assets with just a few hundred people, and they have recently extended their reach into 140 traditional investment sectors.
While everyone else is fighting over the existing Web3 market, Tether has quietly moved its profits into Web2 and even the “old world” of traditional finance.
In this article, we will explore what kind of game Tether, this “super central bank” disguised as a Web3 company, is playing next.
The most profitable business never needs many people
First, we must acknowledge a disheartening fact for all Web3 entrepreneurs: Tether is doing the most profitable business in the entire industry—and arguably in the world.
While you’re busy coding, managing operations, airdropping tokens, and defending against hackers, Tether only needs to do one thing: accept dollars, issue USDT, and then buy US Treasury bonds.
During these years of high interest rates maintained by the Federal Reserve, Tether has been lying on a mountain of gold. They don’t need to implement complex liquidity algorithms like Uniswap, nor maintain a vast node network like Ethereum. Their business model is so simple it’s almost shocking—earning the spread (“seigniorage”).
This is what’s called “seigniorage.”
That’s why they need so few people. Because printing money doesn’t require many hands.
But the question is: after making money, what do they do with it?
Looking back at the last bull market, most Web3 projects—and even some top exchanges—spent their profits on extravagance: buying luxury homes, sponsoring stadiums (remember the FTX Arena), or reinvesting wildly into low-quality assets within their ecosystems, playing a dangerous game of spiral growth. We all know the ending: when the tide recedes, only then do we see who was swimming naked.
But after Paolo Ardoino, the tech geek who became CEO of Tether, took the helm, a terrifying “old money mindset” emerged.
Tether didn’t reinvest profits into high-risk crypto assets (or did so minimally); instead, it operates like a sovereign wealth fund. They are fully aware that the moat of USDT isn’t in technology (issuing ERC-20 tokens has no barriers), but in credit backing and risk resistance.
In the stablecoin race, the surface appears to be about technological competition, but at its core, it’s a trust battle. Who can redeem in extreme market conditions? Who can withstand regulatory storms? Who won’t be run on in a black swan event? These are the real thresholds. Over the past few years, Tether has faced numerous “death sentences,” each time disproved by market-backed redemptions and reissuance. To some extent, its credit isn’t built on audit reports but on repeated stress tests under withdrawal pressure. This brutal market filtering is itself a form of endorsement.
If you examine their financial reports and news over the past two years, you’ll see Tether is engaged in a thrilling “devirtualization”—shifting from virtual assets to real-world assets.
Profits are not squandered
The latest data is staggering. According to Jefferies, an investment bank, as of January 2026, Tether’s gold reserves have surpassed $23 billion. Converted, they hold 148 tons of physical gold. This makes them one of the top 30 largest gold holders in the world.
Source: Wall Street Journal
You might think they’re competing with crypto whales? No, they’re competing with nations.
Tether’s gold reserves now exceed those of sovereign states like Australia, the UAE, and Qatar. In just a few months—from Q4 2025 to January 2026—they bought 32 tons of gold. This purchase speed only trails behind the central banks of Poland and Brazil globally.
This is Tether’s most “visionary” risk management move.
Everyone is worried about the decline of dollar hegemony and the liquidity crisis of US Treasuries. As a dollar stablecoin issuer, Tether is essentially a shadow bank of the dollar. If the dollar falters, USDT will catch a cold.
To hedge this systemic risk, Tether has chosen the only hard currency in human history: gold. While other stablecoins are still arguing over “100% dollar reserves” compliance proofs, Tether has quietly shifted its core holdings into gold. This means that even if the US Treasury faces a major crisis tomorrow or the dollar’s credit system collapses, Tether still holds 148 tons of heavy gold bars.
This isn’t just a token issuer; it’s a “digital Federal Reserve” with a cheat code.
This asset reallocation changes Tether’s risk exposure. Previously, the biggest market concern was “the quality of dollar assets”; now, the question is “what kind of diversified asset portfolio it is building.” When a stablecoin issuer begins to allocate gold like a central bank and diversify investments like a sovereign fund, its role has quietly shifted. It’s no longer just a liquidity tool on the chain but an invisible node in the real financial system.
At the same time, this explains why Tether’s narrative is increasingly emphasizing “asset security” and “long-term stability” over “crypto ideals.” In an industry where narratives change rapidly, it chooses to stand on the side of time. During bull markets, everyone is an innovator; during bear markets, only the balance sheet matters. Tether has turned the imagination earned in the bull market into certainty in the bear.
140 projects—from neural technology to happy farms
If accumulating gold is a defensive move, then Tether’s investments in 140 traditional projects are an all-out offensive.
Looking at Tether’s investment map, it may seem chaotic at first glance, but a closer look reveals a terrifyingly strategic pattern. They are not just buying assets—they are securing humanity’s “survival essentials.”
Unlike other crypto funds that focus on tokens and protocols, Tether spreads profits into physical sectors like computing power, energy, agriculture, and healthcare, building a vast resource empire:
First, monopolizing computing power and energy to become the “landlord” of the AI era. Over the past two years, Tether has heavily invested in computing infrastructure, mining with geothermal energy in Uruguay and El Salvador, and investing in Northern Data to enter the AI computing leasing market. The logic is straightforward: Web3 narratives may cool off, but AI’s demand for computing and electricity is a necessity for the next decade. With USDT and GPU computing power, Tether is becoming one of the most fundamental infrastructure providers of the digital age.
Second, betting on biotech to hedge industry-specific risks. Little known is Tether’s investment in Blackrock Neurotech, a brain-computer interface company. To traditional VCs, this is a move into the next era; to Tether, it’s transforming the “stability coin profits” into “tech capital” that benefits humanity. This not only enhances reputation but also allows its asset allocation to break free from the cycle of financial booms and busts.
Third, investing in agriculture and land, returning to the most basic hedges. Tether has begun buying land and investing in modern agriculture. It may sound the least “sexy,” but it’s the most stable. When the digital bubble bursts, food and land are forever hard currencies. This configuration follows a “doomsday survival” script.
Additionally, they are penetrating offline traffic channels through investments in Georgian payment systems and sponsorship of European football clubs. All these moves indicate Tether’s intention to make USDT as ubiquitous as water and electricity, infiltrating the capillaries of the real world.
Tether’s “Web2” survival philosophy
Returning to the initial question: why is Block laying off staff while Tether is hiring?
Because Block is still playing the “growth game” of Web2—when growth slows, cost-cutting and efficiency are necessary. Tether, on the other hand, is playing the “resource game.”
Tether’s expansion isn’t about developing more powerful DApps or Layer 3 solutions. The 450 people they are hiring are probably not writing Solidity code but managing compliance, government relations, asset management, and geopolitical negotiations. This is precisely why Tether has survived multiple bull and bear cycles and outlasted countless competitors.
They are extremely “Web2-like,” even “traditional.” In the Web3 casino filled with hype and bubbles, Tether acts as the house—collecting the most solid chips (USD) and then walking out of the casino to buy buildings, land, gold bars, and power plants. When others in the casino lose their chips or are chased out by regulators, Tether sits in a high-rise across the street, sipping coffee and watching it all unfold.
This is an extreme form of rationality, even with a touch of coldness. Many criticize Tether for opacity and being a black box. But from a business strategy perspective, we must admire Paolo Ardoino and his team. They are not fooled by the grand narratives of Web3. They understand that crypto will only truly survive if it becomes “water” and “electricity,” integrated into the real world. So, when you see Block laying off staff and institutions downsizing, don’t just panic. Look at what Tether is doing.
It’s telling you a simple truth: it’s easy to fly high in the wind, but the real challenge is whether, after the wind stops, you’ve truly grasped the roots growing in the ground. Tether has grasped gold, computing power, and land.
Perhaps this is the ultimate form of Web3 companies: using decentralized technology to earn excess profits, then employing the most centralized methods to control the production resources of the real world.
It sounds a bit cyberpunk, even dystopian, but it might very well be the reality.
