KPMG gives Tether unqualified audit opinion

Tether said on Aug. 13 that KPMG U.S. issued an unqualified audit opinion on the 2025 financial statements of Tether International, S.A. de C.V., the issuer behind the USDT stablecoin. The opinion covered the year ended Dec. 31, 2025 and, according to Tether, concluded that the statements presented fairly, in all material respects, the company’s financial position, results of operations and cash flows under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. The announcement moves Tether beyond the reserve attestations it had relied on previously. In a March 24 statement, Tether said it had formally engaged a Big Four accounting firm for its first full independent financial statement audit after what it described as an onboarding process that included reviews of systems, internal controls and financial reporting. (tether.io) ### What did KPMG actually sign off on? KPMG’s opinion, as described by Tether, was not limited to a snapshot of reserve balances. Tether said the audit covered the full financial statements, including the balance sheet, income statement, statement of changes in equity and cash flow statement for the year ended Dec. 31, 2025. Tether also said the work examined transactions, systems, ownership records, valuations, counterparties and other evidence supporting those statements. (tether.io) In its Aug. 13 release, the company said KPMG performed substantive testing across the financial statements and physically counted and inspected each gold bar held by Tether rather than relying only on custodian or counterparty reports. (tether.io) ### How is that different from Tether’s earlier reporting? Tether said the audit complements, rather than replaces, its quarterly reserve reporting. In its March 24 announcement, the company contrasted a full audit with the attestation framework that had been standard practice across stablecoin issuers, saying the audit process was broader and included closer review of controls and reporting systems. (tether.io) That distinction matters because an attestation typically addresses a narrower set of assertions at a point in time, while an audit opinion covers a full set of annual financial statements. Tether framed the KPMG engagement as its first full annual audit and said the work was conducted in accordance with applicable professional standards. ### What numbers did Tether disclose with the audit? (tether.io) Tether said the audited 2025 statements showed reserves exceeded liabilities tied to issued tokens by $6.814 billion at Dec. 31, 2025. Cointelegraph, citing the company’s release, reported the same figure in its coverage of the audit announcement. Tether had previously said in a separate year-end 2025 reserve update that it recorded more than $10 billion in profits for 2025 and $141 billion of exposure to U.S. (tether.io) Treasury holdings. Those figures came from a fourth-quarter 2025 attestation prepared by BDO, according to Tether’s earlier statement. ### Does an unqualified opinion settle every question around USDT reserves? (cointelegraph.com) An unqualified opinion is the cleanest standard audit opinion, but it is not a blanket guarantee against all future market concerns. Tether itself described the opinion as meaning the financial statements were presented fairly, in all material respects, under U.S. GAAP, and said it was issued without reservations, exceptions or caveats. (tether.io) The company’s own framing also leaves room for continued scrutiny of reserve composition, disclosures and reporting frequency. Tether said the audit complements its quarterly reserve reporting, which means users and counterparties will still look to those periodic disclosures for updates after Dec. 31, 2025. ### What comes next for Tether’s reporting? March 24 was the date Tether disclosed the KPMG engagement, and Aug. 13 was the date it announced completion of the 2025 audit. (tether.io) Tether said the audited statements sit alongside its ongoing quarterly reserve reporting, with finance materials posted on its website. The next concrete reporting steps are likely to be Tether’s subsequent reserve disclosures for 2026 and any future annual audited statements covering periods after Dec. 31, 2025. (tether.io) Those updates, Tether said, are published through its finance and news pages. (tether.io 1) (tether.io 2)