Tether’s recent acquisition of a 31.9% stake in Elemental Altus Royalties Corp (“Elemental Altus”) is more than just another institutional deal in the gold space, it’s a landmark moment for the future of royalties and commodity backed assets.
As the CEO of a platform built specifically to democratise access to mining royalties, I see this move as a powerful validation of what we’ve believed for years, that resource backed cashflows and a new investor breed of inflation hedge stategists, are poised to play a large role in the next chapter of global financial infrastructure and in plugging the US$5.4T global mining funding gap.
For those unfamiliar, Elemental Altus (TSX-V:ELE) is one of the world’s leading, mid-cap, royalty companies providing exposure to precious metal production through revenue linked contracts rather than direct mine ownership. Royalty Agreements entitle the owner to a fixed percentage of revenue from the mine, rather than mine ownership and Elemental holds a portfolio of these. Tether is the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin USD Tether, making them effectively the Central Bank of the blockchain ecosystem, and they have not only taken a significant position in Elemental’s equity, but secured an option to acquire an additional 13.9% of the company, bringing its potential stake to nearly 46%. That’s not a passive investment. It’s strategic, and it makes perfect sense alongside the rest of the Tethers impressive balance sheet.
Tether holds the bulk of its balance sheet in US Treasuries and cash equivalents, totalling US$120Billion. It's been steadily pivoting towards digital and real-world asset exposure with more than 100,000 Bitcoin (~US$10 billion) on their books and nearly 80 tonnes of physical gold (US$6 billion). This royalty deal adds a further pivot towards commodities, one that offers steady, long-term cashflows from real production and without the volatility of mining operations or the regulatory baggage of physical storage.
This is exactly the opportunity our platform is built around. We’ve spent the past several years building the legal, technical, and market infrastructure to open up institutional grade mining royalties to sophisticated investors, particularly SMSFs, family offices, and wholesale investors looking for uncorrelated income with real asset backing. We do this by digitising traditional royalty agreements and fractionalising them lowering the cost barrier to entry. Royalty deals that were once only available to mining insiders or specialist funds are now available more broadly. The goal is not to disrupt what works, but to extend the exosystem, creating new capital pathways for royalty holders while offering trusted access to investors seeking alternatives to equities, property, and yield starved fixed income.
Tether’s entry into the royalty space proves something the industry has quietly known, royalties are some of the most underappreciated, high-integrity financial instruments available today. They are long-dated, cash-generative, asset linked, and inherently resilient. And in an era where investors are increasingly wary of opaque derivatives and overhyped tokens and even equities, royalties represent a return to fundamentals, cash, contracts, and commodities.
But this moment is also a call to action. There are billions of dollars’ worth of royalties sitting on private balance sheets today (we estimate US$378B worth), many of them underutilised or illiquid. Existing royalty holders including PE funds and royalty companies now have a global signal, this is a market with growing appetite that requires an aggregator and marketplace for royalty opportunities. For the first time, via ProspEx, royalty holders can access this growing investor base and realise value through our platform which enables a shop front for assets and exit into a liquid market, as well as partial exits.
And for investors, particularly in Australia, where SMSFs manage nearly a trillion dollars in capital, this is a chance to gain exposure to the commodity supercycle without the volatility of operating companies or commodity speculation.
We believe this asset class will become a core building block of the next-generation financial system. Tether’s move confirms it. Our mission at ProspEx is to make that future available, compliantly, intelligently, and at scale. Whether you’re holding a royalty, managing a family office, or building an investment portfolio with real-world resilience in mind, now is the time to pay attention. Because royalties aren’t just having a moment. They’re becoming a movement.
