Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, withdrew 951 bitcoin (BTC) from a Bitfinex wallet and moved them to its reserve wallet.

Arkham Intelligence data cited by blockchain media outlet The Block Crypto showed the transfer was worth $70.5 million at the time, or about 104 billion won.

The transfer lifted Tether’s bitcoin reserves to 97,141 BTC. Based on Bitcoin Treasuries data, Tether holds the second-largest amount of bitcoin among private companies. Among listed companies, the biggest holder is Strategy.

The move also aligns with Tether’s established pattern of steadily accumulating bitcoin and periodically transferring it to its reserve wallet. Tether moved 961 BTC from Bitfinex to its reserve wallet in November last year. The value at the time was $97 million, or about 143 billion won.

Tether began buying bitcoin in September 2022. In May 2023, it said it would allocate 15 percent of quarterly net profit to bitcoin purchases and has continued to expand its reserves. The company has run this as part of a long-term diversification strategy.

There have also been transfers to external addresses during reserve management. In June last year, Tether withdrew 14,000 BTC from its bitcoin reserve wallet and moved them to an address marked as owned by Twenty One Capital. This differs from transfers like this one, from a Bitfinex wallet to a reserve wallet, but in both cases Tether’s bitcoin holding and management approach continues to be verified on-chain.

The market is also watching the composition of Tether’s reserves. Its website shows that about 4 percent of more than $190 billion in reserves backing USDT is held in bitcoin. Considering that a large share of dollar-pegged stablecoin reserves is allocated to cash-like assets and government bonds, bitcoin has a limited weight but is included as a diversified asset.

With Tether maintaining its policy of continuing to allocate part of net profit to bitcoin, attention is expected to remain on whether it further expands its reserve wallet.