Tether's first audit turns a decade of faith into a 3.7% cushion

Tether said on Thursday that KPMG U.S. completed a full audit of its 2025 financial statements and issued an unqualified opinion, the first full audit in the company's history ^[1][2]. The audited statements put reserves above liabilities by $6.814 billion at year-end ^[3], which converts the longest-running open question in crypto into a single line item and immediately raises a different one.

Start with what the opinion covers. KPMG audited Tether International, S.A. de C.V. for the 2025 financial year ^[4], testing transactions, systems, valuations, counterparties and ownership records, and sending people to a vault to physically inspect each gold bar ^[5]. That is a materially different exercise from the quarterly attestations Tether has published for years, most recently a Q2 2026 report prepared by BDO ^[8]; an attestation checks specified figures on a given date, while the audit reached into income, cash flows and supporting evidence ^[9]. Tether disclosed in March that it had retained a Big Four firm without naming it, and KPMG was identified days later; PwC prepared the internal systems for the process ^[10][11].

Now the number. DefiLlama puts USDT's market capitalisation near $183 billion ^[15], and USDT has more than $180 billion in circulation ^[7]. Against that, a $6.814 billion surplus is roughly 3.7 percent ^[1]. The two figures are not perfectly matched, since the surplus is a year-end 2025 balance and the supply figure is current, so treat the ratio as an order of magnitude rather than a precise capital ratio. On that arithmetic, an impairment of about 4 percent across reserves would consume the entire cushion ^[2]. For a business whose reserves include one of the largest private holdings of U.S. Treasuries ^[16] plus physical gold ^[5], that is a thin equity layer sitting under a liability that is redeemable on demand.

Which is exactly what the opinion does not speak to. An unqualified opinion means the statements are fairly presented in conformity with applicable accounting standards; it does not endorse the business, guarantee future financial health, or certify the ability to cover redemptions ^[6]. Solvency at a point in time and liquidity under stress are different tests. The audit closes the first; the second remains a matter of asset composition, maturity and how fast a queue can form.

The scrutiny had reasonable origins. Tether settled with the New York Attorney General for $18.5 million in February 2021 over a shortfall in its finances ^[12], and the CFTC fined it $41 million that October over claims that USDT was fully backed by U.S. dollars ^[13], a combined $59.5 million ^[3]. Traders coined "Tether FUD" for the recurring doubt ^[14]. That doubt now has an auditor's answer for one fiscal year.

Concentration is the other thing the ledger does not price. More than 90 billion of USDT sits on Tron and roughly 74 billion on Ethereum ^[15], about 90 percent of supply on two chains ^[4]. Operational risk there is not a balance-sheet item.