Tether is reportedly hiring HSBC’s top metals executives, underscoring the stablecoin issuer’s shift from a Treasury-heavy reserve base toward a material gold allocation.
People familiar with the matter say HSBC’s global head of metals trading Vincent Domien and EMEA head of precious metals origination Mathew O’Neill are set to join Tether in the coming months.
HSBC Holdings is widely viewed as the largest bullion dealer after JPMorgan Chase. Domien also sits on the board of the London Bullion Market Association and became HSBC’s global head of metals trading in 2022 after joining from Societe Generale in 2019.
In addition, Tether, holding more than $12 billion of gold as of September, has been adding to reserves at a pace of more than one ton a week through September as it intensifies a push into bullion, placing Tether among the market’s largest non-sovereign buyers.
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Tether reports more than $180 billion in total reserve assets.
The company asserts USDT remains redeemable one-to-one with the dollar and is primarily backed by US government debt, cash, and other short-dated instruments, with gold as a growing component. Tether also issues Tether Gold, or XAUT, with roughly $2 billion in circulation, backed by about 1,300 London Good Delivery bars according to the company. The firm says its reserve assets generated $13 billion of profit last year and it expects about $15 billion this year.
The company has allegedly not undergone a full independent financial audit, a point raised by critics and acknowledged in outside reporting.
The hires land during a year when gold is set for its best annual performance since 1979, supported by persistent central-bank purchases, momentum flows, and a rotation away from long-duration sovereign debt. As bullion prices broke successive records, trading houses, hedge funds, and banks expanded precious-metals desks, intensifying competition for experienced traders.
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