Karla Barker 
Tether said Thursday that KPMG U.S. has completed a full financial audit of its parent company, Tether International, for the year ending Dec. 31, 2025. The accounting firm issued an unqualified opinion, meaning it found the financial statements were fairly presented under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
This is the first full audit for the company behind the $180 billion USDT stablecoin. Tether has relied for years on quarterly attestations, which are narrower checks of specific data such as reserve amounts and composition. An audit goes deeper, testing transactions, assets, liabilities, income, cash flows and the supporting evidence.
KPMG examined Tether’s transactions, systems, valuations, counterparties and ownership records, according to the company. Auditors also physically counted and inspected its gold bars.
A long-delayed promise
Tether has promised a full audit many times since settling with the New York Attorney General’s office in 2021. That settlement came after authorities found Tether had misrepresented its reserves. Since then, the company has published attestations rather than a full audit. Critics have wondered why a company this large has not faced the same level of scrutiny common among major financial firms.
The financial statements show Tether’s reserves exceeded liabilities by $6.814 billion at the end of 2025. That is the company’s claim. CoinDesk has asked Tether whether it will release KPMG’s findings, but no response has come yet.
Why USDT stability matters
USDT is a central piece of crypto trading infrastructure. Billions of dollars in trades depend on the assumption that one token can be redeemed for one dollar. Concerns about the reserves backing USDT have appeared on and off for years, sometimes turning into a recurring pattern online. Crypto traders have a shorthand for it: “Tether FUD.” The fears have not gone away, but they have not stopped Tether’s growth.
USDT now has a market value above $180 billion. Tether has also become a major holder of U.S. Treasury debt, which adds another layer of importance to its financial reporting.
The audit does not necessarily end every question. An audit opinion is based on the financial statements as of a specific date. It does not guarantee future stability. But it is a step beyond what Tether has offered before, and it gives outsiders something closer to a full look at the books. Whether Tether releases the full audit report remains to be seen.