Tether, the company responsible for the stablecoin Tether (USDT), made a significant acquisition of 8,888 Bitcoin (BTC) worth $618 million on March 31. This purchase increased Tether’s Bitcoin holdings to a total of 75,354, which were bought at an average price of $30,305. At the time of writing, this amounts to approximately $5.2 billion, according to on-chain data.
The acquisition comes at a time when institutional interest in Bitcoin is on the rise, thanks to the approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the United States and the upcoming Bitcoin halving event, which will reduce the block supply issuance in half in just 19 days.
Following the acquisition, Tether now holds the seventh-largest amount of Bitcoin in the world, according to data from Bitinfocharts. The largest holder of Bitcoin is Binance’s cold wallet, which holds over 248,597 Bitcoin worth $17.31 billion.
In order to diversify the backing assets of its stablecoin, Tether has committed to investing 15% of its net profit into Bitcoin. This move comes as Tether’s USDT reached a record market cap of $100 billion on March 4, showing a 9% growth year-to-date.
Despite experiencing the largest quarterly options expiry event on March 29, Bitcoin has been trading above the $69,000 support line since March 25. The cryptocurrency’s price fell 1.23% in the 24 hours leading up to 8:45 am UTC, reaching a trading price of $69,523.
Many analysts believe that Bitcoin’s pre-halving correction may be over, as it has successfully turned its old all-time high of $69,000 into a support level. Basile Maire, co-founder of D8X decentralized exchange and former UBS executive, believes that the halving event is still not fully priced into Bitcoin’s current price.
Bitcoin has recently achieved a historic milestone by closing seven consecutive monthly green candles for the first time ever. This signifies a period of consistent price growth for the cryptocurrency.
Overall, these developments indicate a positive trajectory for Bitcoin and its market performance, with experts predicting a potential cycle top at $180,000.