Tether said KPMG US has issued an unqualified audit opinion on the 2025 financial statements of Tether International, S.A. de C.V., the entity the company identifies as the issuer of USDT, marking a step beyond the quarterly reserve attestations that have long been the company’s main transparency product. The audit found that reserve assets exceeded liabilities by $6.814 billion as of Dec. 31, 2025.
The opinion, announced by Tether on Aug. 13, was prepared under US generally accepted accounting principles, or US GAAP. KPMG audited Tether International’s balance sheet, income statement, statement of changes in owners’ equity and cash flow statement for the year ended Dec. 31, 2025.
A clean opinion means KPMG concluded that the financial statements presented the company’s financial position fairly, in all material respects, under the accounting rules used for the engagement. It places Tether’s reserve reporting under a more extensive review than a point-in-time confirmation of whether reported assets cover outstanding tokens.
KPMG reviewed transactions, controls and gold holdings
Tether said KPMG’s procedures included an on-site count and inspection of every gold bar held by the audited entity. The firm also reviewed transaction records, systems, valuation processes, counterparties and evidence that Tether owned the assets reported on its statements.
Those procedures differ from the work behind Tether’s quarterly attestations, which have been produced by BDO Italy. An attestation assesses reserve coverage at a specified date, based on management representations and defined procedures. A financial statement audit extends to transaction flows, accounting policies, internal controls and the way figures are recorded across an entire reporting period.
The distinction is particularly relevant for USDT, whose supply and reserve base move rapidly with issuance and redemptions. Tether’s reported USDT circulation rose from roughly $144 billion at the end of 2025 to more than $184 billion over the following eight months, according to figures cited by the company and its assurance disclosures. The audited balance sheet therefore reflects a substantially smaller USDT operation than the one now serving the market.
Tether’s $6.814 billion surplus at year-end 2025 also does not represent a fixed cushion. BDO Italy’s attestation for the second quarter of 2026 reported a $4.11 billion excess of assets over liabilities, about 40% below the year-end audited amount. A first-quarter 2026 figure was reported in a range of roughly $7.1 billion to $8.2 billion, depending on the disclosure being referenced.
A reserve surplus can change as Tether’s earnings, asset prices, operating costs, token issuance and redemptions change. The lower second-quarter buffer does not by itself indicate a reserve shortfall: BDO’s figure still reported assets above liabilities. It does show why an audit of a past balance sheet cannot substitute for timely reserve information in a stablecoin whose liabilities can expand by tens of billions of dollars within months.
The full audit report remains unavailable
Tether announced KPMG’s opinion but did not publish the full audit report with the release. That leaves the public unable to examine the financial-statement footnotes, accounting policies, breakdown of reserve assets, key audit matters or related-party disclosures that would usually give readers a more detailed view of the audited entity.
The company has published reserve composition information through its quarterly reports. Its first-quarter 2026 disclosure showed that US government debt represented approximately 80% to 83% of reserves, while overnight reverse repurchase agreements accounted for about 5% to 7% and money market funds for around 3% to 5%.
The reported reserve pool also included more than 146 tonnes of gold, Bitcoin and secured loans. The latter category has drawn particular attention because Tether previously said it aimed to reduce secured lending exposure. The company reported $5.5 billion in secured loans around the middle of 2024.
Tether has previously said its reserve strategy emphasizes liquid assets, particularly US Treasury bills. Yet the extent to which individual assets, entities and obligations are included in the KPMG-audited balance sheet cannot be determined from the opinion announcement alone.
Entity structure remains relevant to reading the audit
KPMG’s engagement covered Tether International, S.A. de C.V. Tether chief executive officer Paolo Ardoino has described that entity as USDT’s issuer. Previous BDO Italy attestations, though, have described a wider corporate structure including Tether Holdings Limited, Tether Operations Limited, Tether Investments Limited and entities connected to Tether Gold.
Those reports also stated that the assets of Tether Investments Limited were excluded from the definition of “reserves.” That makes the scope of the audited entity material when comparing the new audit with Tether’s wider reserve disclosures and the company’s businesses outside the assets directly backing USDT.
Tether’s assurance arrangements have changed several times. The company ended its relationship with Friedman LLP in 2017, later used MHA Cayman for reserve attestations, and subsequently moved to BDO after MHA Cayman became part of that network. Tether also completed a SOC 2 Type 1 review in 2024, covering aspects of its information-security controls.
In March 2026, Tether said it had engaged a Big Four accounting firm for a full audit and that PwC was involved in preparations relating to internal systems compliance. The KPMG opinion is the outcome of that stated audit effort.
US rules are moving toward annual audits
The audit arrives as US stablecoin rules become more prescriptive. The GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, created a federal framework requiring compliant stablecoin issuers to hold one-for-one reserves in cash or short-term Treasuries, provide monthly reserve attestations and complete annual audits.
The law’s requirements do not automatically extend to foreign stablecoin issuers. A US Treasury assessment of whether foreign regulatory regimes qualify for reciprocal treatment remained under review as of mid-2026.
Tether has also begun building a separate route into the US market. In January 2026, it launched USAT, a US-focused token issued through Anchorage Digital Bank. The GENIUS Act gives the market a transition period through July 2028, after which non-compliant stablecoins would be barred from listings by US digital-asset service providers.
KPMG’s opinion gives Tether an audited 2025 financial statement and a reported year-end surplus. The company’s next challenge is to show how that historical audit connects to a much larger 2026 USDT balance sheet, changing reserve buffers and the disclosure standards emerging in its most consequential market.
For deeper context on evolving disclosure rules around dollar-pegged tokens, explore our guide on stablecoin regulation under the GENIUS Act.
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