Tether Buys $82M Stake in Gold-Focused Investment Company Elemental Altus

Stablecoin issuer Tether's investment arm bought a one-third stake in Elemental Altus (ELE), a publicly listed precious metals investment company, for C$121.6 million ($89.2 million).

Tether Investments is aiming to diversify the assets that back its stablecoin USDT, the world's largest such token with a market capitalization of $155 billion, expanding into tangible assets and precious metals, according to an announcement on Tuesday.

Tether acquired 78,421,780 common shares in Elemental from La Mancha Investments, a Luxembourg-based mining investment firm.

Elemental's Toronto-listed shares spiked nearly 23% to C$1.77 ($1.30) following the announcement. They closed at C$1.53 on Wednesday, 6.25% higher than before Tether's investment. At press time, Tether's stake is worth nearly $88 million.

CEO Paolo Ardoino said the investment reflects its "confidence in the fundamentals of gold and its critical role in financial markets."

"Elemental's royalty model provides diversified exposure to gold production around the world, aligning strategically with our vision for Tether Gold and future commodity-backed digital asset infrastructure," he added.

Tether referred to increasing its exposure to gold as a "dual pillar strategy", alongside its holdings of over 100,000 BTC ($10.7 billion).

With regulation of stablecoins on the horizon in the U.S., issuers such as Tether are preparing for requirements to be compliant when it comes to the assets that back their tokens.

This could extend to diversification of assets. It was suggested by JPMorgan earlier this year that Tether could have to sell some of its BTC in order to comply with the proposed regulation.

UPDATE (June 12, 14:12 UTC): Adds purchase price to headline, first paragraph.