Tether Completes Massive Audit with KPMG for 2025

Tether completes its first full financial audit for 2025 with KPMG, confirming $6.8 billion in excess reserves and $141 billion in US Treasuries.

The audit covered the entire year of 2025 and represents a significantly more detailed examination than the quarterly reserve attestations the USDT issuer previously published.

There is a fundamental difference between this new audit and prior attestations. While the latter verified specific metrics—such as the size and composition of reserves on a specific date—this financial audit scrutinizes the balance sheet, income statement, cash flows, and the underlying evidence supporting them.

KPMG examined transactions, internal systems, asset valuations, ownership, and counterparty relationships for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025. The auditor issued an unqualified opinion under GAAP, meaning no material misstatements were found that would require a qualified opinion.

Tether initiated this process in March, announcing it had selected a “Big Four” firm to conduct its first full financial audit.

Reserves Exceed Liabilities by $6.814 Billion

The audited financial statements reveal that Tether International’s reserve assets exceeded its token-related liabilities by $6.814 billion at the end of 2025.

Among the verified assets are approximately $141 billion in U.S. Treasury bills, which continue to serve as the cornerstone of the company’s reserve structure.

The audit also included a physical inspection of gold, a practice unusual for traditional financial firms. KPMG performed a physical count and inspection of individual gold bars rather than relying solely on documentation from custodians. These gold reserves are tied to both Tether’s general assets and the collateral for the XAUT gold-backed token.

Why a Full Audit Outweighs Previous Attestations

This distinction carries significant weight for Tether. For years, the company published reserve attestations, yet the absence of a full independent financial audit remained a primary criticism regarding the transparency of the world’s largest stablecoin issuer.

A full audit verifies more than just the existence of assets at a single point in time; it validates how revenue, liabilities, and cash flows were recorded throughout the entire reporting period.

The scale of the operation has also grown immensely. When Tether announced its choice of auditor in March, USDT already boasted a market capitalization exceeding $184 billion and more than 550 million users, according to company data.

Meanwhile, regulatory pressure on major issuers is mounting, and annual independent audits are becoming a standard requirement for systemically important stablecoins.

For Tether, the next milestone is no longer whether it can pass an inaugural audit, but whether such checks will become a consistent annual process. The continuity of these audits will be what allows the market to track changes in reserves, liabilities, and financial performance across different reporting periods.