Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin USDT, bought the Bitcoin dip during the recent market downturn, signaling long-term conviction.

The wallet linked to the stablecoin issuer deposited, purchased, and withdrew 961 BTC, worth $97.18 million, from crypto exchange Bitfinex, according to on-chain analytics platform Arkham.

The purchase is part of Tether’s policy of allocating 15% of its net realized operating profits to Bitcoin, according to a tweet from EmberCN, a Chinese on-chain analysis account.

Tether’s portfolio now holds 87,296 BTC, valued at approximately $8.84 billion, making it the sixth-largest Bitcoin wallet in the world. The stablecoin company’s massive stash is currently sitting on an unrealized profit of about $4.55 billion, with an average purchase price of $49,121 per Bitcoin.

“Since September 30, Tether has increased its exposure to precious metals and reduced exposure to Bitcoin,” Gleb Kurovskiy, Chief Digital Officer at Luminary Bank, told Decrypt. “Given that Bitcoin’s price has fallen by over 10% while gold has appreciated, Tether’s recent Bitcoin purchases may simply reflect portfolio rebalancing rather than a strategic accumulation.”

Bitcoin faces headwinds

Bitcoin is currently trading at $100,253, down 2.6% over the past 24 hours and still reeling from the major liquidation event in October, per CoinGecko data.

“Tether’s latest $97 million Bitcoin purchase reinforces a familiar institutional pattern: conviction buying during liquidity stress,” Enmanuel Cardozo, market analyst at Brickken, told Decrypt. “Smart money rarely tries to time tops or bottoms; it accumulates when leverage unwinds and fear dominates.”

“Tether is continuing its strategy to diversify its treasury towards hard assets—it has also increased the gold on its balance sheet—and Bitcoin sits at the core of this strategy,” Rachel Lin, CEO and Co-Founder of SynFutures, told Decrypt. “It’s a vote of confidence in Bitcoin’s long-term fundamentals as a hard asset as fiat currencies continue to devalue.”

For retail investors, the takeaway is about discipline rather than impulse, the analysts added.

“Patient investors who genuinely believe in Bitcoin’s fundamentals could view this dip as an accumulation window rather than a moment to panic,” Lin said. She emphasized strategies like dollar-cost averaging and focusing on the long game.

Users of Myriad, a prediction market launched by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan, flipped bearish on Bitcoin’s prospects Friday morning, with a slight majority expecting its next move to take it to $85,000 rather than $115,000, a marked change from the optimism seen earlier in the week.

Altcoin sentiment remains largely bearish, with users assigning a 6% and 15% chance that Fartcoin and Solana will hit all-time highs this year.

Looking ahead

Bitcoin’s recovery path remains tied to macro conditions and liquidity, as well as the stabilization of exchange-traded fund inflows, Cardozo added. Though the top crypto could bounce and recover losses, experts who previously spoke to Decrypt said this bullish outlook is contingent on easing macro and geopolitical conditions.

He suggests the market is likely entering a “reaccumulation phase rather than a new bear cycle.”

Lin echoed this tempered optimism, noting that “on-chain data still shows that the majority of Bitcoin is sitting in wallets unmoved for months, a classic sign of conviction building beneath the surface.