Key facts
- Tether announced that KPMG has issued an unqualified opinion on its 2025 financial statements.
- The audit included a physical inspection of all gold bars held by Tether.
- Tether previously settled with New York and the CFTC over misrepresenting its reserves.
- Tether reported $1.5 billion in Q2 profit and holds significant US Treasuries.
- Bitcoin ETFs experienced $131 million in net outflows on Thursday.
Tether, the company behind the leading stablecoin USDT, announced Thursday that the Big Four accounting firm KPMG has issued an unqualified opinion on its 2025 financial statements. This marks a significant milestone for the company, which has faced years of skepticism regarding the backing of its reserves.
KPMG's audit reportedly examined Tether's assets, liabilities, income, cash flows, internal systems, records, counterparties, and supporting documentation. Notably, the firm physically counted and inspected every individual gold bar held by Tether, rather than relying on custodian reports. This comprehensive review is considered the best possible outcome for an audit.
Historically, Tether has provided quarterly attestations, a less rigorous review than a full audit, which drew criticism from market participants. The company has also faced regulatory actions, including an $18.5 million settlement with New York in 2021 over misrepresenting its reserves and a $41 million fine from the CFTC the same year for claiming USDT was fully backed by dollars when it was not always the case.
CEO Paolo Ardoino framed the audit as a victory against detractors and a demonstration of the company's maturing governance and balance sheet. The clean audit comes as Tether is actively expanding its presence in the U.S. market, launching a domestic stablecoin and engaging with regulators under the new GENIUS Act framework. This development could potentially shift the competitive landscape, as Circle has previously positioned itself as the transparent, regulated alternative to Tether.
In broader market news, crypto majors were slightly down, with Bitcoin trading at $62.8k. Bitcoin ETFs saw net outflows of $131 million on Thursday, while Ether ETFs experienced inflows of $5.9 million. The SEC postponed a meeting on crypto rulemaking due to a scheduling conflict. Separately, Trezor, a hardware wallet maker, experienced a data breach exposing customer addresses through a shipping partner.