Tether has proudly completed its first independent financial statement audit, with KPMG U.S. providing an unqualified opinion after reviewing its 2025 financials, highlighting a $6.814 billion reserve surplus.
Summary
- KPMG audited Tether International’s financial statements for the year ending December 31, 2025.
- Tether revealed its reserve assets were $6.814 billion more than its liabilities at the year’s end.
- The audit entailed a comprehensive review of transactions, systems, valuations, counterparties, ownership records, and related documentation.
- KPMG conducted a physical inventory and inspection of all gold bars owned by Tether.
Tether announced on Thursday that KPMG U.S. executed the audit of Tether International, S.A. de C.V. in accordance with established professional standards and issued an unqualified opinion on the organization’s financial statements.
KPMG’s opinion covers Tether’s entire 2025 financials
Rather than focusing solely on a reserve report at a particular date, KPMG scrutinized the company’s financial condition as of December 31, 2025, including its operational results and cash flows for the whole year. The audit encompassed the balance sheet, income statement, statement of changes in equity, and cash flow statement.
Tether stated that KPMG concluded the statements “fairly present, in all material respects” the company’s financial position and results per U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
An unqualified opinion signifies that the auditor had no reservations, exceptions, or qualifications concerning its conclusion. Tether categorized this outcome as a clean audit, although the opinion strictly pertains to the audited 2025 financial statements and the pertinent evidence examined by KPMG.
The audit also evaluated the documentation backing individual balance-sheet items. KPMG reviewed transactions, internal systems, asset ownership, valuations, counterparties, and the documents employed in preparing the accounts, as noted in the announcement.
Tether CFO Simon McWilliams indicated that the audited statements demonstrated reserves exceeding the liabilities connected to issued tokens by $6.814 billion at the end of 2025. The company confirmed that this result aligned with the reserve figures previously disclosed through former attestations.
KPMG also conducted an independent assessment of Tether’s physical gold assets. Auditors counted and validated each bar along with its identifying details, rather than relying solely on claims from custodians or other counterparties.
Tether audit surpasses previous quarterly attestations
Tether has released independent reserve attestations for several years; however, such attestations serve a more limited function compared to a complete audit of annual financial statements. Reserve reports generally focus on management’s presentation of assets and liabilities at a specified reporting date, while the KPMG engagement analyzed Tether’s accounts and supporting evidence for the entire financial year.
The company began this process in March after choosing an undisclosed Big Four accounting firm. As previously mentioned by crypto.news, this decision followed a preliminary evaluation of Tether’s systems, internal controls, and financial reporting operations.
Tether subsequently designated KPMG as the auditor. CFO McWilliams joined in early 2025 with the mission of establishing the internal financial framework necessary for a thorough audit.
As of the March engagement, USDT had a market capitalization exceeding $184 billion and over 550 million users, according to Tether. In their latest update, the company reported a user base of over 650 million, mainly in emerging markets where individuals utilize USDT for payments, savings, remittances, and access to U.S. dollars.
CEO Paolo Ardoino noted that KPMG did not limit its analysis to just the headline reserve figures. According to Ardoino, the firm assessed the assets, records, transactions, systems, and additional documentation underpinning the financial statements according to standards set by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Tether referred to the engagement as the largest first financial audit ever conducted. However, KPMG’s opinion is confined to whether the financial statements were presented fairly under U.S. GAAP; Tether’s claim regarding the audit’s size remains a statement from the company itself.
Reserve figures adjusted post-2025 audit date
Since the audited statements pertain to the year ending December 31, 2025, the $6.814 billion surplus is distinct from the reserve figures disclosed in Tether’s quarterly reports throughout 2026.
At the close of the first quarter, Tether announced $191.8 billion in assets and $8.23 billion in excess reserves. The second quarter attestation, prepared by BDO and released on July 31, later indicated assets of $187.75 billion against liabilities of $183.64 billion.
July reserve data revealed that Tether generated approximately $1.5 billion in net operating profit for the second quarter, while its excess reserve buffer diminished to $4.11 billion. By the end of June, the USDT supply was about $184.6 billion, constituting more than 60% of the global stablecoin market.
Tether’s asset composition continued evolving after the audited year concluded. The Q2 attestation disclosed physical gold holdings of around 146.2 metric tons and Bitcoin holdings of 98,933 BTC, while the company reduced its secured lending exposure during the quarter.
Gold was a component of KPMG’s verification processes for the 2025 financial statements. As of March 31, 2026, Tether reported roughly 707,747 fine troy ounces backing its XAUT token, an increase from about 520,000 ounces at the end of 2025. Earlier, Tether Gold figures estimated the token’s bullion reserves at over $3.3 billion.
U.S. stablecoin regulations focus on audit requirements
KPMG’s application of U.S. GAAP provides American investors and counterparties a recognized accounting framework for evaluating Tether’s 2025 financial statements. However, an unqualified audit opinion alone does not determine whether USDT complies with U.S. stability laws or qualifies for continuous listing on American trading platforms.
The GENIUS Act established federal regulations for payment stablecoin issuers, including reserve, disclosure, and oversight requirements. President Donald Trump enacted the legislation in July 2025, comprising various provisions requiring agencies to finalize implementation rules before the framework is fully operational.
Tether issues USDT through an issuer based outside the United States, making the law’s treatment of foreign stablecoins crucial for its accessibility to American centralized exchanges. Legal experts suggest that foreign issuers may need to comply with lawful freeze and seizure orders once the law takes effect, while other requirements linked to exchange listings may have extended implementation timelines.
A July assessment of USDT access revealed that the general transition period extends into 2028, although the timing of certain obligations for foreign issuers remains open to regulatory interpretation. Tether has indicated its intention to comply with the law, but federal agencies have yet to finalize all regulations affecting foreign stablecoin issuers.
Besides USDT, Tether has introduced USAT as a separate dollar-backed token engineered for the American market. Anchorage Digital Bank issues USAT under a U.S.-regulated framework, while Cantor Fitzgerald serves as the reserve custodian.
