Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin USDT, has completed its first full independent financial statement audit.
Big Four accounting firm KPMG U.S. has issued an unqualified opinion on the company’s 2025 financial statements. It is the most favorable opinion an independent auditor can issue.
“This is a defining moment for the stablecoin industry,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said. “For years, some detractors said an audit of Tether could not be completed. They said the Company refused to subject itself to the most rigorous scrutiny. We have once again proven them wrong.”
"No rock was left unturned"
Ardoino also described the audit as unprecedented in scale. “By at least an order of magnitude, [it is] the largest inaugural audit in the history of finance,” he said in a post on X. “My congratulations go to the entire Tether team and especially to our Finance function, which demonstrated its ability, precision and commitment to complete this review process within the highest standards across the whole digital assets and global financial industry.”
According to Tether, the audit went substantially beyond verifying a snapshot of the company's reserves. KPMG examined the full balance sheet, including assets backing USDT.
Notably, the company said KPMG physically counted and inspected every individual gold bar held by Tether, verifying each bar’s existence and identifying information rather than relying solely on reports provided by custodians or counterparties.
"No rock was left unturned," Ardoino wrote. “Tether has all the gold it says it has. Now reviewed by KPMG. How many financial institutions or governments can actually say that?”
"False claims"
Auditing has been one of the most controversial issues surrounding Tether for years.
Tether has long maintained that USDT is backed by reserves, but historically it did not provide the type of full financial audit that critics demanded. Instead, the company relied on attestations that assessed its reserves at particular points in time. Such reports can provide evidence of the assets held on a specified date, but they are narrower than a financial-statement audit covering a broader reporting period, transactions, liabilities, systems and financial controls. Tether's shift to a full audit therefore addresses a criticism that has followed the company for much of its history.
That skepticism was intensified by regulatory action. Ardoino mentioned this in his statement. "Despite our Company being subject to several years of detractors’ false claims, competitors' lies, political attacks and misinformed coverage by several mainstream newspapers trying desperately to discredit us," he wrote.
U.Today Editorial Team
Dan Burgin
