Tether, the company behind the popular stablecoin Tether (USDT), made a significant move in the cryptocurrency market by acquiring 8,888 Bitcoin (BTC) worth $618 million on March 31. This acquisition has boosted Tether’s Bitcoin holdings to a total of 75,354 Bitcoin, which were purchased at an average price of $30,305. At the time of writing, these holdings are valued at around $5.2 billion, according to on-chain data.
The acquisition by Tether comes at a time when institutional interest in Bitcoin is on the rise. This heightened interest is attributed to the recent approval of United States-based spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds and the upcoming Bitcoin halving event, which is set to reduce the block supply issuance by half in just 19 days.
Following the acquisition, Tether now ranks as the seventh-largest Bitcoin holder in the world, according to data from Bitinfocharts. The largest Bitcoin holder is Binance’s cold wallet, which holds over 248,597 Bitcoin worth $17.31 billion.
Tether has also announced its intention to invest 15% of its net profit into Bitcoin in order to diversify the backing assets of its stablecoin, USDT. This move comes as Tether’s USDT reached a record $100 billion market cap on March 4, showing a 9% year-to-date growth.
In addition to Tether’s acquisition, the price of Bitcoin has been trading above $69,000, indicating a potential end to the pre-halving correction. Despite a 1.23% drop in price in the 24 hours leading up to 8:45 am UTC, Bitcoin has been holding above the $69,000 support line since March 25. This resilience in price action is seen as a positive sign for Bitcoin’s performance leading up to the halving event.
Bitcoin has also achieved a new milestone by closing seven consecutive monthly green candles for the first time in history. This strong price action has led to speculation about how high Bitcoin’s price could go, with some predicting a cycle top at $180,000.
Overall, Tether’s acquisition of Bitcoin and the positive price action of the cryptocurrency market indicate a growing confidence and interest in digital assets among both institutional and retail investors. The upcoming Bitcoin halving event and the continued growth of stablecoins like USDT are expected to further drive the adoption and mainstream acceptance of cryptocurrencies in the financial industry.