Tether Receives Unqualified KPMG Audit, Ending Years of Reserve Skepticism

KPMG Delivers Landmark Audit Approval

Tether, the company behind the world’s dominant stablecoin USDT, has successfully completed a comprehensive financial audit by KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting firms. According to KPMG, as reported by Decrypt, the audit resulted in an unqualified opinion—the highest possible assessment—on Tether’s 2025 financial statements. Tether described the engagement as the “largest inaugural financial audit in history.” During the audit process, KPMG examined Tether’s assets, liabilities, revenue streams, cash flows, and internal control mechanisms. The auditors went beyond standard procedures, conducting physical inspection and verification of every gold bar held by Tether, rather than relying solely on third-party custodian certifications.

Resolving Decades of Trust Questions

For most of USDT’s existence, Tether sidestepped comprehensive audits, instead publishing quarterly attestations—lighter-touch financial reviews—that invited skepticism about whether the stablecoin genuinely maintained its claimed reserves. Historical regulatory actions lent weight to these concerns. In 2021, Tether settled with New York authorities for $18.5 million after being accused of misrepresenting its reserve position. That same year, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission imposed a $41 million penalty on the company for falsely asserting that USDT was consistently backed by dollar reserves. CEO Paolo Ardoino characterized the KPMG approval as validation against what he called years of “detractors’ false claims, competitors’ lies, political attacks and misinformed coverage.” The Big Four auditor’s endorsement marks the first time an independent, major accounting firm has comprehensively verified Tether’s balance sheet, directly addressing the verification gap that fueled years of criticism.

Strengthening Market Position in the US

The audit approval arrives as Tether aggressively expands into United States markets, launching a domestic stablecoin offering and engaging with regulators under the GENIUS Act framework. An audited balance sheet removes a significant regulatory obstacle to institutional adoption and official approval. Tether’s financial scale now rivals sovereign entities, with the company reporting $1.5 billion in quarterly profit and holding US Treasury securities in quantities exceeding many nations’ reserves. These metrics, combined with audited verification, position Tether to accelerate institutional adoption. The development also shifts competitive dynamics, particularly for Circle, which had built its market position around claims of superior transparency and regulatory compliance relative to Tether—advantages that have now eroded substantially.

For the broader cryptocurrency sector, Tether’s audited reserves provide essential credibility to the stablecoin ecosystem that enables trading and liquidity for assets including XRP across global markets.

Source: KPMG, via Decrypt. Not financial advice.