jakiro
Author: Wu Yu, Jin Shi Data
Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, is hiring two of the world’s top precious metals traders from HSBC Holdings PLC.With its strong financial strength, this companyPlans to build huge gold reserves to challenge existing leaders in the gold market.
Vincent Domien, HSBC’s global head of metals trading, and Mathew O’Neill, head of precious metals financing for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, will join the cryptocurrency firm in the coming months, according to people familiar with the matter.The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the relevant information has not yet been made public, added that the two are currently serving their notice periods at HSBC.
In recent years, Tether has actively expanded in the field of precious metals and has accumulated one of the largest gold reserves in the world – and this reserve does not belong to banks or sovereign countries, and is part of its reserve assets of more than 180 billion US dollars.HSBC is a giant in the precious metals sector and is widely regarded as the industry leader after JPMorgan Chase. Its business covers futures trading, vault storage and global gold bullion transportation.
Domian currently serves as a director of the London Bullion Market Association, the de facto standard-setting body for the global gold market.He joined HSBC from Societe Generale SA in 2019 and became global head of metals trading in 2022.O’Neill has been playing for HSBC since 2008.
At a time when competition for talent is becoming increasingly fierce, their departure is a blow to HSBC’s precious metals business.Since the beginning of this year, gold prices have achieved their best annual performance since 1979, breaking records one after another. Trading companies, hedge funds and banks have expanded their precious metals professional teams.
The reserve assets of Tether’s flagship U.S. dollar stablecoin (USDT) include gold, and its latest reserve report shows that,The company’s gold holdings were worth more than $12 billion in September.In the year to September, Bloomberg calculated thatThe El Salvador-based company has increased its gold holdings by an average of more than 1 ton per week.
This makes Tether one of the largest gold buyers in the market – a statistic that does not include the gold reserves of its gold stablecoin (XAUT) or private gold investments made with Tether’s billions of dollars in profits.The company has also taken stakes in other parts of the gold supply chain, including concessionaires.
USDT can be exchanged for U.S. dollars at a 1:1 ratio, and its reserve assets are mainly composed of U.S. Treasury bonds and gold and other assets.As for XAUT, according to Tether’s official website, its circulating market value is approximately US$2 billion and is 100% endorsed by approximately 1,300 gold bars.
Last year, Tether achieved a profit of US$13 billion based on its reserve assets. Although the number of employees is small, the profit level is comparable to the top investment banks on Wall Street.This year the company expects to earn about $15 billion.
Tether’s development has benefited from the rapid rise in gold prices this year.Gold prices have risen thanks to continued purchases by central banks, trend buying, and so-called “devaluation trades” – a broad term that refers to investors moving away from sovereign debt and the currencies in which they are denominated due to concerns that the value of these assets will erode over time.
