Tether's Full Audit
Tether Secures First Full KPMG Audit, Revealing $6.8 Billion Reserve Surplus for 2025
Key Points
KPMG's audit went beyond attestations by testing transactions, ownership records, valuations, systems, and counterparties, spanning the full balance sheet, income statement, changes in equity, and cash flows.
Auditors physically counted and inspected every gold bar and did not rely on custodian reports; Tether's reserves include bullion, Bitcoin, and Treasury bills, with a tokenized gold token tracking the same metal.
There is a notable gap between the audited reserve cushion of $6.814 billion and Tether's quarterly attestation figure of $6.34 billion for Dec. 31, 2025, a difference of about $480 million.
The audit notes that the audited entity and the attested group are not identical, complicating direct comparisons between audit and attestation figures.
The audit opinion is dated roughly 20 months old, reflecting that the statements cover 2025 results but may not reflect more recent developments.
Tether, the company behind the world's largest stablecoin USDT, has completed its first-ever full financial audit — and the numbers are big. Accounting giant KPMG U.S. issued an unqualified opinion on Tether's 2025 financial statements, finding that reserves exceeded liabilities by $6.814 billion as of December 31, 2025, according to Decrypt.
The milestone ends years of Tether relying on quarterly attestations — lighter reviews that test far less than a full audit. CryptoNews called it the largest inaugural financial audit ever completed by a stablecoin issuer. KPMG's team even physically counted every gold bar Tether holds, rather than trusting custodian reports.
KPMG Went Far Deeper Than Past Attestations
A quarterly attestation checks whether reserves exist at a single point in time. A full audit does much more. KPMG tested transactions, ownership records, asset valuations, internal systems, and counterparty relationships, according to Decrypt. The audit covered the full balance sheet, income statement, changes in equity, and cash flows for all of 2025.
One standout detail: auditors physically inspected and counted every gold bar held by Tether. They did not rely on reports from custodians. Tether holds bullion, Bitcoin, and U.S. Treasury bills in its reserves. The company also runs a tokenized gold product backed by the same physical metal, HeadTopics reported.
$480 Million Gap Between Audit and Attestation Figures
The audit found a $6.814 billion reserve cushion. But Tether's own quarterly attestation for the same date — December 31, 2025 — showed a surplus of just $6.34 billion. That is a gap of about $480 million, according to Decrypt.
The difference is partly explained by scope. The audited entity, Tether International S.A. de C.V., is not identical to the group covered in quarterly attestations. That makes a direct comparison tricky. Still, the gap has raised questions from analysts about which figure most accurately reflects Tether's financial position.
Reserve Cushion Appears to Have Shrunk by Mid-2026
The audit covers results through the end of 2025. But more recent data tells a different story. By mid-2026, attestation figures suggest Tether's reserve cushion had fallen to about $4.1 billion — a drop of roughly 40% from the audited $6.814 billion figure, according to Yahoo Finance.
Analysts point to gold price declines as a likely driver. Tether holds significant bullion, so falling commodity prices could shrink the cushion even if the company remains profitable. The audited statements themselves have not been publicly released, making it hard to independently verify the full picture.
Why This Audit Could Reshape the Stablecoin Market
Tether's USDT has a market cap of roughly $180 billion, making it the dominant stablecoin in crypto. For years, rivals and regulators criticized the company for not producing a full audit. A clean opinion from a Big Four firm like KPMG changes that conversation, CryptoNews reported.
The audit could set a new bar for reserve verification across the stablecoin industry. If Tether — long the most scrutinized player — can get a clean KPMG opinion, pressure may grow on competitors to match that standard. Questions remain, though, about ongoing disclosure and the public release of the full audited statements.
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