Tether Holdings, the company behind the popular stablecoin USDT, has reported a record net profit of $4.52 billion in the first quarter of 2024. This marks a significant increase from previous quarters and reflects the growing popularity of stablecoins in the cryptocurrency market.

In addition to its net profit, Tether also disclosed its net equity for the first time, which stood at $11.37 billion as of March 31. This represents a substantial increase from the $7.01 billion worth of equity recorded at the end of December 2023, according to Tether’s attestation report for Q1 2024.

The company attributed approximately $1 billion of its operating profit to income derived from its holdings in United States treasury securities. The remaining $3.52 billion was attributed to market-to-market gains in Tether's Bitcoin and gold positions.

Tether's USDT stablecoin is the largest stablecoin in the world, with a market capitalization exceeding $110 billion according to CoinMarketCap data. The company issued $12.5 billion worth of USDT in the first quarter of 2024.

The report also revealed an increase of $1 billion in Tether's excess reserves, which are maintained as a buffer to support the company's stablecoin offerings. Tether's excess reserves stood at just below $6.3 billion.

Despite the impressive financial results, the report also highlighted over $104 billion worth of liabilities related to "digital tokens issued." However, the value of Tether's reserve assets exceeded the value of its liabilities by over $6.2 billion, as of March 31.

Tether's strong financial performance in the first quarter of 2024 underscores the growing demand for stablecoins and their importance in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.