by Vince Lanci
“Physical silver belonging to a Tether affiliate is being stored within Gold.com’s network”
The following are two tether stories. The first is about their Gold loan business, which is booming. The second is from our own analysis of Gold.com’s most recent 10k revealing they control and are trading Silver as well.
Tether’s $1.5 Billion Gold Loan Business Is No Joke
Tether has become a substantial source of financing in the physical gold market, extending approximately $1.5 billion in precious-metals financing to Gold.com, one of the largest bullion dealers in the United States. It is also trading and storing silver in a Las Vegas facility. We have both stories.
The scale moves Tether beyond its better-known role as the issuer of USDT and beyond simply accumulating physical gold. It is now using part of that gold position in transactions that resemble traditional bullion-market financing.
Bloomberg reported this week that Tether accounted for the majority of approximately $1.7 billion in precious-metals leases outstanding at Gold.com at the end of June. Gold.com owed approximately $1.45 billion in payables and advances to Tether at that point. The relationship has expanded quickly. At the end of March, Gold.com had disclosed roughly $362.6 million in precious-metals leases and customer advances involving Tether. Within approximately three months, the amount associated with Tether had increased by more than $1 billion.
The financing relationship followed Tether’s $150 million strategic investment in Gold.com earlier this year, which gave the stablecoin company roughly a 12% ownership position. The companies described that investment as part of a broader effort to connect physical bullion distribution with digital gold products, including Tether Gold, or XAU₮. Gold.com has since described precious-metals leasing from Tether as a significant source of financing and has said the companies intend to develop an integrated gold ecosystem spanning physical and digital markets.
How the Financing Works
The structure matters because this is not simply a conventional dollar loan secured by gold. Under a previously disclosed arrangement, Tether can provide LBMA Good Delivery gold bars through a precious-metals leasing facility. Tether retains ownership of the metal while Gold.com receives use of it for an agreed period. The facility carried an annual lease rate of 1.75%, with individual transactions permitted to run for as long as 18 months. At maturity, Gold.com must return the equivalent quantity and purity of gold, with settlement taking place in London.
For a bullion dealer, this can be an efficient form of working-capital financing. Rather than borrowing dollars and purchasing bullion outright, the dealer can borrow the metal directly, use it to maintain inventory or satisfy customer demand, and later return an equivalent quantity. This is an established function in the bullion market and has historically been associated with major banks and specialist precious-metals firms.
What is unusual here is the lender. Tether has accumulated enough physical gold to participate directly in that financing system.
Tether’s Growing Physical Gold Position
Tether reported holding more than 146 metric tonnes of physical gold at the end of June. The company added approximately 14 tonnes during the second quarter, following purchases of roughly six tonnes during the first quarter and more than 21 tonnes during the final quarter of 2025. At June prices, the position was valued at approximately $18.8 billion.
The Gold.com relationship shows that Tether is no longer treating all of that bullion simply as a passive reserve asset. Gold that is leased into the market can also serve a funding and liquidity function while remaining an asset of the lender.
That is the important distinction. Tether is simultaneously accumulating bullion and developing ways to use that bullion within financial transactions. Its role increasingly combines elements of reserve ownership and wholesale gold financing.
From Gold Ownership to Gold Infrastructure
The development also fits with Tether’s expansion into tokenized gold. XAU₮ represents ownership interests in physical bullion held in custody, while Gold.com provides an established distribution network in the conventional bullion market. The leasing relationship creates another connection between those activities by placing physical gold into commercial circulation.
Tether should not be confused with a traditional bullion bank, which typically performs a much broader range of market-making, derivatives, custody, clearing and financing activities. But the leasing agreement demonstrates that it is now performing at least one function long associated with that market: supplying physical metal as financing to a major dealer.
The numbers show how quickly that role has developed. Tether began the year attracting attention for its gold accumulation and its $150 million investment in Gold.com. By the end of June, its exposure to the dealer through precious-metals leases and related advances had reached approximately $1.5 billion, while its own physical holdings had risen above 146 tonnes.
The broader point is straightforward. Tether’s gold strategy is no longer limited to owning bullion. It is beginning to use that bullion within a larger structure connecting physical ownership, financing, distribution and tokenization. The $1.5 billion relationship suggests that the transition from owning gold to financing with gold is already underway.
What Bloomberg missed and we are happy to report is that this is not just a gold story. It is a silver story as well.
Exclusive: Tether Is Also Trading and Storing Silver in Las Vegas
After analyzing Gold.com’s most recent 10k GoldFix notes the following…
Tether’s expansion into precious metals extends beyond gold. Regulatory filings show that a Tether affiliate is storing physical silver at Gold.com’s precious-metals facilities in Las Vegas while maintaining separate agreements to buy, sell and lease silver through the bullion dealer.
Gold.com disclosed the relationship in a May SEC filing describing three agreements with Tether affiliates. A February precious-metals lease agreement covers “gold, silver and any other metal” specified between the parties. A March trading agreement governs purchases and sales of precious-metal products, while a separate March 24 storage agreement states that Tether is storing gold and silver at Gold.com facilities in Las Vegas and at other locations arranged by the company.
The Las Vegas operation is run through A-M Global Logistics, or AMGL, Gold.com’s precious-metals storage and logistics business. Gold.com operates a roughly 25,000-square-foot secure depository at Harry Reid International Airport that handles the storage, processing and distribution of gold, silver and other precious metals.
The disclosure places Tether directly inside the physical silver market through the same vertically integrated infrastructure it is using to finance and trade gold.
Gold.com’s latest annual filing also confirms that Tether leases precious metals to the company, purchases and sells metals with Gold.com, and uses its secure storage and logistics network.
The filings do not disclose the quantity or value of Tether’s silver holdings. They do establish that physical silver belonging to a Tether affiliate is being stored within Gold.com’s network, including its Las Vegas operation, while Tether maintains active trading and leasing arrangements covering the metal.
The latest Gold.com 10-K shows:
-
AMGL Las Vegas depository: 24,743 sq. ft. storage/fulfillment facility at Harry Reid International Airport, plus another 14,614 sq. ft. Las Vegas warehouse.
-
Tether metals relationship: Gold.com explicitly says a Tether affiliate is storing gold and silver at Gold.com facilities in Las Vegas and at other locations arranged by Gold.com. Gold.com, Inc.
-
Tether payables and advances at June 30, 2026: $1.453848 billion, versus $362.6 million at March 31. These balances include precious-metals leases and customer advances, but Gold.com does not split them between gold and silver or by vault location. SEC
-
Total Gold.com borrowed precious-metals inventory: $776.061 million at June 30, up from $46.051 million a year earlier. Again, no gold/silver breakdown. SEC
-
Of that borrowed-metal inventory, $709.2 million was restricted inventory held in third-party storage for customers. That should not be labeled AMGL inventory because Gold.com specifically calls it third-party storage. SEC
-
Total Gold.com inventory: $2.360 billion, compared with $1.280 billion a year earlier. No location or metal breakdown is supplied.
Silver Academy functions as a financial content aggregator and platform. Under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, it operates with legal immunity from third-party liability. This protection allows the site to host external submissions, syndicated commentary, and unmoderated user comments under a free-speech-oriented model.
-
our opinions are not our sponsors opinions
-
the editorial department is separate from the promotions department
-
not financial advice