Elemental Altus and EMX Royalty to Merge in US$100 Million Tether-backed Deal

Tether boosts bet on gold

While consolidation in the royalty space is not new, the transaction between Elemental Altus and EMX stands out because of the presence of Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer.

Tether acquired a major stake in Elemental Altus this past June, making it one of the company’s largest shareholders with an interest of about 31.9 percent. Now, in support of the EMX deal, Tether has agreed to purchase around 75 million Elemental Altus shares at C$1.84 each, injecting US$100 million into the company.

For many market observers, the move illustrates how nontraditional investors are beginning to view gold royalties as a diversification tool. Tether, which manages more than US$160 billion in reserves, has already accumulated billions in physical gold and recently expanded into hard-asset storage facilities in Europe.

“This is a company or a group that really should have no business investing in hard assets or natural resources. But I think in hindsight, Tether’s move may prove to be quite significant," Matt Geiger, managing partner at MJG Capital Fund, said about Tether's initial investment in Elemental Altus in an interview with the Investing News Network (INN).

Stefan Gleason, CEO of Money Metals, also spoke to INN after Tether first invested in Elemental Altus, highlighting the convergence of digital finance capital with traditional commodities.

“Tether Investments is the largest stablecoin … and they have been now diversifying their investments into other things, including physical gold, which I think Tether Investments now has like US$9 billion in,” Gleason explained.

He added that the move into royalties makes sense as a lower-risk way to access the gold market.

“Mining royalty companies are historically great performers for a lot of reasons. They remove a lot of the negatives about investing in mining. You don't have as much of the government risk. You don't have the operational risk, the regulatory risk. You can diversify across many assets. You don't have ongoing capital costs, and you just take a percentage of the revenues when they come out of the ground," Gleason continued.

“To have Tether come in with their massive treasury and make a big investment there, starting with Elemental Altus, and then trying to use a company like that as maybe a catalyst to roll up other royalty companies in the space and make new investments — I think that's a very bullish factor for the mining royalty space."

Growing consolidation trend

The Elemental Altus-EMX merger also joins a growing wave of consolidation in the royalty and streaming sector.

With dozens of small and mid-tier players competing for assets, mergers are seen as a way to scale up quickly, improve diversification and increase liquidity. Through the merger, the combined company will hold more than 200 total royalties and 16 paying ones, anchored by cornerstone assets with major operators.

Management projects US$70 million in revenues this year, rising to US$80 million in 2026.

Both firms have also delivered strong share price growth in recent years, reaching compounded annual growth rates of more than 17 percent since their inception.