Tether Completes First Full Financial Audit With KPMG
Tether says KPMG has completed its first full independent audit, issuing an unqualified opinion on the USDT issuer’s 2025 financial statements.
Tether has reached a long-awaited milestone in its push for greater financial transparency. The stablecoin issuer announced on Aug. 13 that KPMG U.S. completed a full independent audit of Tether International, S.A. de C.V.’s financial statements for the year ended Dec. 31, 2025.
The audit marks the first time Tether has subjected its complete financial statements to a full independent examination by a major accounting firm, according to the company.
KPMG Issues Unqualified Opinion
Tether said KPMG conducted the examination in accordance with AICPA professional standards and issued an unqualified audit opinion, the most positive form of opinion an independent auditor can provide. In practical terms, KPMG found that the financial statements fairly present Tether International’s financial position, results of operations and cash flows in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
The audit went beyond Tether’s existing quarterly reserve attestations. KPMG examined transactions, systems, ownership records, valuations, counterparties and supporting documentation underlying the company’s financial statements.
The review also included physical verification of Tether’s gold holdings. According to the issuer, KPMG counted and inspected every individual gold bar held by Tether, checking each bar’s existence and identifying information rather than relying exclusively on reports from custodians or counterparties.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino described the audit as a major shift for the stablecoin sector:
“This is a defining moment for the stablecoin industry”
Ardoino said the company’s first full financial statement audit demonstrates that Tether can withstand the level of scrutiny that critics had previously argued it would avoid.
Tether Reports $6.814B Surplus
The audited financial statements covered the issuer’s complete financial statements, including its balance sheet, assets backing the reserves, liabilities represented by issued tokens, income statement, changes in equity and cash flows.
According to Tether CFO Simon McWilliams, the audited accounts showed that reserves exceeded liabilities by $6.814 billion at the end of 2025.
That figure provides a broader financial picture than Tether’s quarterly reserve attestations. While those reports, prepared by BDO Italia, provide a snapshot of reserves and liabilities at a specific point in time, the KPMG audit covered Tether International’s complete financial statements, including its balance sheet, income statement, changes in equity and cash flows.
The distinction is important because Tether has faced questions about its reserves for years. The company agreed to pay $18.5 million to settle with the New York Attorney General in 2021 over claims related to its reserves and separately received a $41 million CFTC fine over misleading statements concerning USDT’s backing.
A Decade-Long Audit Commitment
Tether first promised to pursue a full financial audit in 2017, when it hired Friedman LLP. That relationship ended without the audit being completed, while subsequent Tether executives repeatedly said a comprehensive audit remained forthcoming.
The company announced in March 2026 that it had formally engaged a Big Four accounting firm for its first full audit, although it did not initially name the auditor. Reports at the time identified KPMG as the firm conducting the work.
Tether now characterizes the completed examination as the largest inaugural financial audit in history, reflecting the scale of the company and its stablecoin operations.
For the wider market, the significance extends beyond Tether itself. Stablecoins increasingly support payments, remittances, trading and access to U.S. dollars, making independent financial scrutiny increasingly relevant as their role in global financial infrastructure expands.
Ardoino said Tether views the audit not as the end of its transparency efforts but as the beginning of another phase:
“People may describe this as the end of a long journey, but we see it as the beginning of the next one”
With its first full audit now completed, Tether has moved a longstanding transparency commitment from repeated promises to an independently reviewed financial statement — potentially setting a higher bar for accountability across the stablecoin industry.
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