Tether has completed the first full annual financial statement audit in its history. KPMG U.S. issued the stablecoin issuer an unqualified opinion for the 2025 financial year. The Tether KPMG audit also confirmed a reserve surplus of USD 6.814 billion.
Tether issues USDT, the largest stablecoin by market capitalization. The token is pegged to the US dollar, so the reserves must cover every unit in circulation. Originally, the company held out the prospect of a full audit as far back as 2017. Afterwards, however, it delivered only quarterly attestations. KPMG has now, for the first time, examined the complete annual accounts rather than the reserve holdings alone. In total, USDT in circulation stood at around USD 186.5 billion at the end of 2025. Currently the token ranks third among all cryptocurrencies, with a market capitalization of just under USD 183 billion.
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Tether KPMG audit confirms reserve surplus of USD 6.8 billion
The opinion follows AICPA auditing standards, while the accounting rests on US GAAP. An unqualified opinion means the auditors raise no material qualifications about the figures. As a result, the report differs fundamentally from the earlier attestations. Those confirm holdings on a single reporting date under previously agreed procedures. A full financial statement audit, by contrast, also covers systems, valuations and internal controls. KPMG's work initially covered the balance sheet, income statement, statement of changes in equity and cash flow statement. In addition, it took in the underlying transactions and the counterparties. For institutional users, that shifts the evidence base. Until now, every risk review rested on point-in-time confirmations without insight into the control systems.
US Treasuries form the largest reserve block at around USD 141 billion, a record for the company. Moreover, roughly 130 tonnes of physical gold worth USD 17.4 billion sat in the reserves at the balance sheet date. In the third quarter of 2025, this item still amounted to USD 12.9 billion. For the precious metal, KPMG furthermore inspected each bar individually on site. Bitcoin holdings came to around USD 8.4 billion as of the balance sheet date. At the end of September 2025, they had stood at around USD 9.9 billion. Secured loans added up to around USD 14.6 billion, likewise as of the end of September 2025. The reported surplus of USD 6.814 billion thus quantifies the assets that exceed the backing of all issued tokens.
The reserve mix shifted noticeably during 2025. Treasuries still dominated at around 78% of assets in mid-2025. Alongside them, the company also expanded gold, Bitcoin and secured loans considerably. Tether justifies this course with diversification and additional yield. In the 2025 financial year, the issuer earned a profit of more than USD 10 billion. Against around USD 13 billion in the prior year, that marks a decline of roughly 23%. Meanwhile, USDT in circulation grew by around USD 50 billion over the year. Overall, this contrast between rising circulation and falling earnings stands out.
From the failed Friedman audit to a Big Four opinion
In 2017, Tether hired the audit firm Friedman LLP for a full financial statement audit. In January 2018, however, the engagement ended without a result. After that, the issuer published quarterly attestations only, most recently through BDO Italia. Such reports under agreed-upon procedures confirm reserves as of one reporting date. Internal controls and the full set of accounts, by contrast, stay outside the mandate. Critics such as the pseudonymous blogger Bitfinexed therefore held the company to be unauditable for years. Executives later repeatedly held out the prospect of an opinion from one of the four large audit firms. They put the timeline at months rather than years.
2021 brought the regulatory reckoning. Specifically, the CFTC imposed a fine of USD 41 million over misleading statements about the dollar backing of USDT. Between 2016 and 2019, dollar reserves fully covered the token on only 27.6% of the days examined. At the same time, Tether settled with the New York Attorney General for USD 18.5 million. Two points were at issue. One was the missing 1:1 backing, the other a USD 850 million loan to sister exchange Bitfinex. In turn, that loan covered losses from the earlier seizure of funds at the payment processor Crypto Capital.
Not least against this background, the opinion carries more weight than a formality. CEO Paolo Ardoino places the result in context accordingly.
"Some may call this the end of a long journey, we see it as the beginning of the next." - Paolo Ardoino, CEO, Tether
The audited perimeter does not cover the entire Tether group
Firstly, the opinion applies to Tether International, S.A. de C.V. alone. This entity issues USDT, yet it does not represent the whole group. The holding structure further includes Tether International Limited, Tether Operations Limited and the mining company Zettahash Limited. These three units sit in the British Virgin Islands, and Tether Limited in Hong Kong adds to them. Additional BVI entities run commodity and investment businesses. Tether nevertheless communicates the result as confirmation for the issuer as a whole. The KPMG opinion, however, does not report these companies separately. The company calls the audit itself the largest first-time audit in financial history.
Secondly, an open point concerns the figures themselves. The BDO attestation as of 31 December 2025 appeared at the end of January 2026. It showed a surplus of USD 6.3 billion. The KPMG full audit, however, cites USD 6.814 billion for the same reporting date. Where the difference of around USD 500 million comes from remains unclear. Possible explanations include diverging valuation methods, later adjustments or a different consolidation scope.
The full audit report is also not publicly available. All known figures therefore come from Tether's own summary of the results. The stated figure of more than 650 million users worldwide likewise lacks external confirmation. That number comes solely from the company announcement. In January 2025, the group moved its headquarters from the British Virgin Islands to El Salvador. Before that, the country had granted it a license as a digital asset service provider. The parent company has since been Tether Holdings El Salvador S.A. de C.V.
Circle's listing raises the transparency pressure on Tether
The timing of the opinion falls into a phase of sharper competition. Rival Circle, issuer of the stablecoin USDC, listed on the NYSE in June 2025. The stock closed its first trading day 168% above the issue price of USD 31. Moreover, the listing made the rival's reserve structure verifiable for shareholders and supervisors. Grant Thornton attests Circle's holdings monthly. For years, the company has also positioned itself as the already independently audited alternative to Tether.
USDC nonetheless stays comparatively small. The token reached around USD 75 billion in market capitalization in 2025, USDT around USD 186.5 billion. In percentage terms, USDC nevertheless grew faster at 73% than USDT at 36%. In absolute terms, the market leader still stays clearly ahead.
Meanwhile, the regulatory framework tightened. With the signing of the GENIUS Act in July 2025, payment stablecoins gained their first US federal framework. The obligations take effect in stages. Tether finally responded in January 2026 with USAT, a separate, US-regulated stablecoin. The nationally chartered Anchorage Digital Bank, N.A. issues the token, and Cantor Fitzgerald holds the reserves in custody. Since then the issuer has run two products in parallel, USDT for international markets and USAT for the US market. USAT carries its own reserves and thus falls outside the KPMG opinion. Ultimately that opinion refers only to the reporting date of 31 December 2025. Beyond that date, it offers no guarantee.
