Tether Drops Mega Financial Proof in S&P Showdown
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino is battling back against what he sees as an unfair S&P downgrade. The rating agency's decision to reduce USDT's.
Quick overview
- Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino is contesting S&P's downgrade of USDT, claiming it overlooked key financial data.
- Tether's total assets exceeded $215 billion at the end of Q3 2025, with $7 billion in excess equity and $23 billion in retained earnings.
- S&P's downgrade cited Tether's investments in high-risk assets and inadequate disclosures, which Ardoino argues misrepresents the company's financial strength.
- Former Citi analyst Joseph Ayoub supports Tether, stating it is better collateralized than traditional banks and operates profitably with fewer resources.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino is battling back against what he sees as an unfair S&P downgrade. The rating agency’s decision to reduce USDT’s stability rating to its lowest ever triggered a heated response from the stablecoin powerhouse, exposing significant financial figures that call the downgrade explanation into question.
The CEO argued that the ratings agency did not consider all of Tether’s assets and income.
The Tether Group’s total assets at the end of Q3 2025 were over $215 billion, whilst its total stablecoin liabilities were at $184.5 billion, stated Ardoino, who cited Tether’s Q3 attestation report.
At the conclusion of Q3 2025, Tether had around $7 billion in excess equity, in addition to $184.5 billion in stablecoin reserves and $23 billion in retained earnings within the Tether Group, he added.
These data show significant financial strength, which Ardoino says S&P unfairly neglected. The $30 billion in surplus equity and retained income alone constitutes a strong buffer against market swings.
re: Tether FUD
From latest attestation announcement (Q3 2025):
"Tether will continue to maintain a multi-billion-dollar excess reserve buffer and an overall proprietary Group equity approaching $30 billion."
Tether had (at end of Q3 2025) ~7B in excess equity (on top of the…
— Paolo Ardoino 🤖 (@paoloardoino) November 30, 2025
S&P has took the controversial decision to reduce USDT to a “vulnerable” rating level five. The regulator explained that the stablecoin no longer served as an adequate cushion against prospective Bitcoin value falls. However, this Tether S&P downgrading assessment appears to have omitted important financial data, which Tether’s leadership believes paints a completely different narrative.
The downgrading was based on the stablecoin company’s growing investment in hazardous assets to back its stablecoin reserves, primarily USDT, as well as inadequate disclosures.
USDT, a solid digital asset with a market capitalization of approximately $184 billion, is backed by 5.6% Bitcoin (BTC). The figures are over the 3.9% overcollateralization margin.
S&P warned that the allocation exposes USDT to undercollateralization if the value of Bitcoin and other high-risk assets held by the company were to decline. Additionally, the rater also found that gold, secured loans, and corporate bonds accounted for 24% of the stablecoin issuer’s overall reserves. The numbers were a significant jump from 17% in September 2024.
The Tether folks are in the early innings of running a massive interest rate trade. How I read this audit is they think the Fed will cut rates which crushes their interest income. In response, they are buying gold and $BTC that should in theory moon as the price of money falls.… pic.twitter.com/ZGhQRP4SVF
— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) November 29, 2025
Joseph Ayoub, the former head digital asset analyst at financial services major Citi, stated that he spent “hundreds” of hours researching Tether as an analyst for the company and rejected Hayes’ opinion.
Tether has more assets than it declares, operates a highly profitable business that earns billions of dollars in interest income with only 150 people, and is better collateralized than traditional banks, according to Ayoub.
Ardoino further emphasized that Tether was the first overcapitalized corporation in the finance sector, with no toxic reserves. He noted that the gamble paid off, as the company is still “extremely profitable.”
Amid Tether’s allegations, S&P has given Circle a rating of 2. This is a “strong” rating, showing USDC’s issuer’s ability to pay its financial obligations and a much reduced level of risk exposure.
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