Tether has accomplished its first unbiased monetary assertion audit, with KPMG U.S. issuing an unqualified opinion after reviewing its 2025 accounts and a reported $6.814 billion reserve surplus.
Abstract
- KPMG audited Tether Worldwide’s monetary statements for the yr ended Dec. 31, 2025.
- Tether reported reserve belongings exceeding associated liabilities by $6.814 billion at year-end.
- Auditors examined transactions, programs, valuations, counterparties, possession data, and supporting paperwork.
- KPMG bodily counted and inspected each gold bar held by Tether.
Tether stated Thursday that KPMG U.S. performed the audit of Tether Worldwide, S.A. de C.V. beneath relevant skilled requirements and issued an unqualified opinion on the corporate’s monetary statements.
KPMG’s opinion covers Tether’s full 2025 accounts
Reasonably than analyzing solely a reserve report at a specific date, KPMG reviewed the corporate’s monetary place as of Dec. 31, 2025, together with its working outcomes and money flows for the total yr. The audit lined the stability sheet, earnings assertion, assertion of adjustments in fairness, and money circulation assertion.
In line with Tether, KPMG concluded that the statements “current pretty, in all materials respects” the corporate’s monetary place and outcomes beneath U.S. typically accepted accounting ideas.
An unqualified opinion means the auditor didn’t connect reservations, exceptions, or {qualifications} to its conclusion. Tether described the consequence as a clear audit, though the opinion applies particularly to the audited 2025 monetary statements and the associated proof examined by KPMG.
The audit additionally examined the data supporting particular person balance-sheet entries. KPMG examined transactions, inner programs, asset possession, valuations, counterparties, and paperwork used to organize the accounts, based on the announcement.
Tether CFO Simon McWilliams stated the audited statements reported that reserves exceeded the liabilities linked to issued tokens by $6.814 billion on the finish of 2025. The corporate stated the consequence was in keeping with the reserve figures it had disclosed by way of earlier attestations.
KPMG individually inspected Tether’s bodily gold holdings. Auditors counted each bar and checked its figuring out data as an alternative of relying solely on statements provided by custodians or different counterparties.
Tether audit goes past quarterly attestations
Tether has revealed unbiased reserve attestations for a number of years, however an attestation has a narrower goal than a full audit of annual monetary statements. Reserve reviews typically handle administration’s presentation of belongings and liabilities at a set reporting date, whereas the KPMG engagement lined Tether’s accounts and underlying proof for a whole monetary yr.
The corporate started the method in March after appointing an unnamed Large 4 accounting agency. As crypto.information beforehand reported, the engagement adopted an preliminary evaluation of Tether’s programs, inner controls, and monetary reporting procedures.
Tether later recognized KPMG because the auditor. CFO McWilliams had joined the corporate in early 2025 with accountability for creating the inner finance construction wanted to finish a full audit.
On the time of the March engagement, USDT had a market capitalization above $184 billion and greater than 550 million customers, based on Tether. In its newest announcement, the corporate put its person base above 650 million, largely throughout rising markets the place folks use USDT for funds, financial savings, remittances, and entry to U.S. {dollars}.
CEO Paolo Ardoino stated KPMG didn’t restrict its work to headline reserve figures. In line with Ardoino, the agency examined the belongings, data, transactions, programs, and different proof supporting the monetary statements beneath requirements set by the American Institute of Licensed Public Accountants.
Tether referred to as the engagement the biggest inaugural monetary audit in historical past. KPMG’s opinion, nonetheless, addresses whether or not the statements had been pretty offered beneath U.S. GAAP; the declare in regards to the audit’s file dimension got here from Tether.
Reserve figures modified after the 2025 audit date
As a result of the audited statements cowl the yr ending Dec. 31, 2025, the $6.814 billion surplus is separate from the reserve figures disclosed in Tether’s quarterly reviews throughout 2026.
On the finish of the primary quarter, Tether reported $191.8 billion in belongings and $8.23 billion in extra reserves. Its second-quarter attestation, ready by BDO and launched July 31, later positioned belongings at $187.75 billion in opposition to liabilities of $183.64 billion.
July reserve information confirmed that Tether generated about $1.5 billion in second-quarter internet working revenue whereas its extra reserve cushion fell to $4.11 billion. USDT provide stood at about $184.6 billion on the finish of June, and the token accounted for greater than 60% of the worldwide stablecoin market.
Tether’s asset combine had additionally continued to alter after the audited yr closed. The Q2 attestation confirmed bodily gold holdings of about 146.2 metric tons and Bitcoin holdings of 98,933 BTC, whereas the corporate diminished its secured lending publicity through the quarter.
Gold shaped a part of the KPMG verification work for the 2025 statements. By March 31, 2026, Tether reported roughly 707,747 wonderful troy ounces backing its XAUT token, up from about 520,000 ounces on the finish of 2025. Earlier, Tether Gold figures valued the token’s bullion reserves at greater than $3.3 billion.
U.S. stablecoin guidelines preserve audit necessities in focus
KPMG’s use of U.S. GAAP offers American traders and counterparties a well-known accounting foundation for reviewing Tether’s 2025 monetary statements. An unqualified audit opinion doesn’t, by itself, decide whether or not USDT complies with U.S. stablecoin legislation or qualifies for continued itemizing on American buying and selling platforms.
The GENIUS Act established federal guidelines for cost stablecoin issuers, together with reserve, disclosure, and supervisory necessities. President Donald Trump signed the laws in July 2025, with a number of provisions requiring companies to finish implementing guidelines earlier than the framework takes full impact.
Tether operates USDT by way of an issuer exterior the USA, making the legislation’s remedy of international stablecoins related to its entry to American centralized exchanges. Authorized consultants have stated international issuers could have to observe lawful freeze and seizure orders as soon as the legislation turns into efficient, whereas different circumstances tied to alternate listings have an extended implementation interval.
A July evaluation of USDT entry discovered that the overall transition interval runs into 2028, though the timing of some obligations for international issuers stays topic to regulatory interpretation. Tether has stated it intends to adjust to the legislation, however federal companies haven’t accomplished all guidelines governing international stablecoin issuers.
Alongside USDT, Tether has launched USAT as a separate dollar-backed token constructed for the American market. Anchorage Digital Financial institution points USAT beneath a U.S.-regulated construction, whereas Cantor Fitzgerald serves as reserve custodian.
