Tether could become the most profitable company in history: Bitwise

Tether could smash Saudi Aramco's $120 billion yearly profit record to become the most profitable company in history, according to Bitwise Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Matt Hougan.

Tether could boost profits following $500 billion valuation plan

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said in a note to investors on Tuesday that Tether, the issuer of stablecoin USDT, is on track to surpass Saudi Aramco's $120 billion record to become the most profitable company in history.

He explained that Tether controls nearly 100% of the stablecoin market share in non-Western economies, arguing that emerging markets may soon begin favoring USDT over their native currencies, which could place trillions of dollars under its management.

Hougan added that this potential development, combined with current interest rates on the US Dollar, could propel Tether's annual profits beyond the $120 billion benchmark set by Saudi Aramco in 2024.

"At current interest rates, if Tether got to $3 trillion in assets — about 3% of the global money supply — it would top that, becoming the most profitable company in history," Hougan wrote.

He further highlighted that Tether's plan to go public with a $500 billion valuation would place the company as "one of the most valuable startups in the world, in line with OpenAI and SpaceX."

Hougan claims that one of the biggest mistakes crypto skeptics make is underestimating the size of the markets that the industry seeks to disrupt.

He noted that Bitcoin's $2.3 trillion valuation reflects its pursuit of massive addressable markets, such as gold, which is valued at $25 trillion. Hougan extended the argument to blockchains like Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL), which are vying for roles in the issuance, trading and settlement of stablecoins and tokenized assets.

Meanwhile, Tether has added 8,888.88 BTC, valued at about $1 billion, to its reserves, according to on-chain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence in an X post on Tuesday. The purchase has pushed Tether's holdings to 87,475 BTC, worth over $10 billion, according to data from Bitcoin Treasuries. 

The firm announced in 2023 that it would allocate 15% of its quarterly net profits to fund a Bitcoin treasury. Since then, Tether has continued to stack more Bitcoin, making a similar purchase of 8,888 BTC earlier in Q1.