Why Tether Bought 200,000 Hectares of South American Farmland

Tether acquired roughly 70% of Nasdaq-listed Adecoagro for about $600 million, adding more than 200,000 hectares of farmland across Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay to its reported reserves.

The stake began with an initial $100 million purchase in 2024 and expanded to about $600 million by September 2025. Adecoagro manages sheep and cattle herds and produces milk and rice on properties that cover the stated area.

Tether’s reserves include billions in gold and Bitcoin. The company reported roughly $141 billion in US Treasuries in its first-quarter 2026 attestation. Tether plans to use renewable energy from the farmland to power Bitcoin mining.

KPMG U.S. issued an unqualified audit opinion for what Tether described as its first full financial audit of Tether International and reported reserves exceeded liabilities by $6.8 billion at the end of 2025. KPMG has not published the full audit report or the audited financial statements.

In a June attestation reviewed by accounting firm BDO, Tether reported a reserve buffer of $4.1 billion, a decline of about 40% over six months. The filings show the drop stemmed largely from unrealized losses on Tether’s gold and Bitcoin holdings.

Farmland is illiquid and the Adecoagro stake cannot be sold quickly. That characteristic could affect how fast Tether could convert parts of its reserves to cash if a rapid sale were required.

Analysts described the acquisitions as a diversification away from cash reserves and noted farmland’s low liquidity could pose challenges for rapid asset sales. The published KPMG report may provide further detail on valuations and exposure when it is released.

Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s chief executive, wrote on social media that the audit opinion was “the strongest available.” He added that Tether is “probably the largest owner, land owner in South America” and must remain “a company that survived to the worst case scenario.”

Tether is the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin and has increased allocations to scarce assets such as gold and Bitcoin in recent years. The Adecoagro purchase expands the company’s reserve mix to include real estate and agricultural production.