Tether says KPMG U.S. has completed its first full financial audit of the company behind USDT, with the audit reporting that reserves exceeded liabilities by $6.814 billion at the end of 2025.
Tether, the issuer of the world's largest stablecoin USDT, says it has completed its first full financial audit, marking a significant step in its long-running effort to increase transparency around the assets supporting the token.
The audit was conducted by KPMG U.S., one of the world's four largest accounting firms.
According to Tether's official announcement, KPMG audited the financial statements of Tether International for the year ended Dec. 31, 2025 and issued an unqualified opinion.
An unqualified opinion means the auditor concluded that the financial statements fairly present the company's financial position, results and cash flows in all material respects under the applicable accounting framework.
For Tether, the audit represents a significant change from the quarterly reserve attestations it has historically published.
Tether Reports $6.8B Reserve Surplus
Tether said its audited financial statements showed that its reserves exceeded liabilities by $6.814 billion at the end of 2025.
The figure provides an additional data point for investors and market participants assessing the financial position of the company behind USDT.
USDT has become a critical piece of infrastructure across the cryptocurrency market, providing traders and investors with a dollar-pegged digital asset that can be moved between exchanges, wallets and blockchain networks.
As a result, confidence in Tether's reserves has broader implications for the digital asset market.
KPMG Conducted a Full Financial Audit
Tether said KPMG examined a wide range of information as part of the audit.
The accounting firm reviewed areas including:
Tether's transactions
Financial systems
Asset valuations
Counterparties
Ownership records
Liabilities
Cash flows
Supporting documentation
Auditors also physically inspected and counted Tether's gold holdings, according to the company.
The broader scope differentiates the process from Tether's previous reserve attestations.
A financial audit examines a company's financial statements and supporting evidence across multiple areas, while an attestation generally provides assurance over specific information at a particular point in time.
Audit Marks Change From Tether's Previous Attestations
For years, Tether relied primarily on quarterly attestations to provide information about the assets supporting USDT.
Those reports offered snapshots of the company's reserves but did not constitute a full audit of Tether's entire financial statements.
Tether's move to a Big Four accounting firm therefore represents a more extensive examination of its finances.
The company announced in March that it had hired a Big Four accounting firm for its first full audit, with KPMG ultimately carrying out the work.
KPMG is one of the four largest global accounting firms, alongside Deloitte, EY and PwC.
Why the Tether Audit Matters for USDT
The significance of the audit extends beyond Tether itself.
USDT has become one of the most widely used assets in the cryptocurrency market and plays a major role in trading liquidity, cross-border transfers and decentralized finance.
The stablecoin's market capitalization has grown to more than $180 billion, increasing the potential consequences of any concerns about its reserves or financial stability.
For years, questions surrounding Tether's reserves have periodically returned to the center of the crypto market.
The debate has become so common that the industry developed the term “Tether FUD” to describe recurring concerns and negative speculation surrounding the stablecoin issuer.
A full audit from a major global accounting firm could provide additional confidence to market participants, although the audit does not eliminate all risks associated with stablecoins or cryptocurrency markets.
Tether Has Become a Major U.S. Treasury Buyer
Tether's importance has also expanded beyond the crypto trading market.
The company has become a significant buyer of U.S. government debt, using Treasury securities and other assets as part of its reserve strategy.
That makes Tether increasingly connected to both the cryptocurrency and traditional financial systems.
The company's growing reserve portfolio has also attracted greater attention from regulators, policymakers and institutional investors as stablecoins become more widely used.
Stablecoin Regulation Raises Transparency Standards
Tether's audit comes as governments and regulators around the world continue developing rules for stablecoins.
Regulators have increasingly focused on whether stablecoin issuers maintain sufficient high-quality reserves and whether users can have confidence in the assets backing their tokens.
For the U.S. cryptocurrency industry, stablecoin regulation has become one of the most important areas of digital asset policy.
A full financial audit can provide greater transparency into an issuer's finances, but regulatory frameworks can impose additional requirements concerning reserves, redemption, disclosures and risk management.
The Tether audit therefore arrives at an important moment for the broader stablecoin sector.
Tether CEO Calls Audit a Major Milestone
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino described the audit as an important achievement for the company.
Tether has faced years of criticism over the absence of a traditional full financial audit despite the enormous size and importance of USDT.
The company's latest announcement represents an attempt to address one of the industry's longest-running transparency debates.
However, investors will likely continue examining the details of Tether's financial statements and reserve composition as USDT's market capitalization grows.
What the Audit Means for Bitcoin and Crypto Markets
Although the audit is focused on Tether rather than Bitcoin directly, it has important implications for the wider crypto market.
USDT is widely used as a trading pair for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
A stable and transparent USDT reserve structure can therefore support confidence in the liquidity infrastructure surrounding major digital assets.
On the other hand, any future concerns about Tether's reserves could potentially affect exchange liquidity and crypto market sentiment.
The latest audit provides another layer of financial scrutiny at a time when stablecoins are becoming increasingly important to digital asset markets.
Tether's Next Transparency Test
Completing a first full audit is a significant milestone, but continued transparency will likely remain important.
The crypto industry will be watching whether Tether continues working with major accounting firms and provides increasingly detailed financial disclosures in future reporting periods.
As USDT continues to expand, the expectations placed on its issuer are also likely to increase.
The company now has an opportunity to establish a more consistent audit and reporting framework around one of the world's most widely used digital assets.
For now, the completion of KPMG's audit represents a notable change in Tether's approach to financial transparency.
Tether's official audit announcement
