Tether makes large purchases of Bitcoin, and the crypto market sees a slight rebound in the first week of the new year

Source: DecenterKorea Original Title: Tether’s Massive Buy… Bitcoin Slightly Rebounds in the New Year [Decenter Market] Original Link: https://www.decenter.kr/NewsView/2K759V8YC5/GZ03

Stablecoin Tether(USDT) issuer Tether bought over 8,888 Bitcoins in the last quarter. Driven by active buying from whale entities, Bitcoin shows a slight upward trend.

According to data from global cryptocurrency market sites, at 8:20 AM today, Bitcoin(BTC) increased by 1.23% compared to 24 hours ago, trading at $88,602.97. Ethereum(ETH) rose by 1% to $2,999.52. Ripple(XRP) increased by 1.94% to $1.87.

The domestic market also shows a similar trend. On a leading domestic exchange, Bitcoin increased by 0.56% compared to 24 hours ago, trading at 12,869,500 KRW. Ethereum rose by 0.35% to 4,350,000 KRW, and Ripple increased by 0.85% to 2,724 KRW.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino publicly shared transaction details via social media: transferring 8,888.8888888 BTC from an exchange to Tether’s Bitcoin reserve wallet. The purchase size, based on the value at the time of the transaction, was approximately $778.7 million. This is part of Tether’s investment strategy since 2023—allocating 15% of net realized operating profits to Bitcoin purchases.

After this additional purchase, Tether’s total Bitcoin holdings increased to 96,370 BTC, valued at over $8.46 billion. This far exceeds MicroStrategy, the second-largest holder among listed companies, which owns 53,250 BTC (about $4.68 billion).

Crypto media outlets have noted that since October last year, despite the overall crypto market entering a downturn cycle, whale entities have not stopped bottom-fishing. This confirms Bitcoin’s status as “digital gold” with accumulated value.

Additionally, favorable policy expectations are emerging this year. The U.S. Senate Banking Committee will review amendments to the “Clarification Act,” a market structure bill related to digital assets, on the 15th. If ultimately passed in the first quarter, it could eliminate market uncertainties surrounding digital assets, encouraging large institutional investors who were previously hesitant to enter the market.

Currently, investor sentiment remains in a state of “extreme fear.” According to the Fear and Greed Index from a crypto data analysis firm, the index dropped 1 point to 20 yesterday. The closer the index is to 0, the more pessimistic the market sentiment; the closer to 100, the more overheated the market.