Colombia's Central Bank kept its interest rate at 12%. - Colombia's Central Bank maintained its benchmark interest rate at 12% on Friday.
History suggests slowing volatility - Goldman Sachs noted that both the historical pattern and the pace of recent position reductions suggest an improving outlook.
Tether, the issuer of the world's largest stablecoin, increased its gold reserves to more than 146 metric tons, adding 14 tons during the second quarter.
The company announced this on Friday in a statement regarding its financial results for April-June. The cryptocurrency company became a major buyer of gold last year to build reserves that back its Tether USDT stablecoin, which has a circulating supply of $183.7 billion, and its gold-backed Tether XAUT token, which has a circulating supply of $2.9 billion.
Each dollar-denominated token issued by Tether corresponds to one US dollar held in its reserves. When a user deposits a dollar into Tether, the company issues one USDT and holds assets of equivalent value, such as US Treasury bonds. These reserves are intended to ensure the ability to exchange USDT for dollars on demand. The Tether XAUT stablecoin is fully backed by gold. According to the report, the reserves backing Tether USDT included $18.8 billion in gold reserves as of the end of June.
"We remain one of the world's largest buyers of US Treasuries, reduced our secured lending by $2.38 billion, and added 14 tonnes of physical gold," said Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino.
Tether's net operating income for the quarter reached $1.50 billion, driven by its US Treasury portfolio and repo transactions, he added.
The data suggests that Tether accelerated its gold purchases in the second quarter, when gold posted its largest quarterly decline since 2013, falling 14%. The company purchased 6 tonnes in the first quarter.