Tether has completed a historic audit: reserves exceed liabilities, but there are nuances.
The issuer of the largest stablecoin has, for the first time in its history, received an unqualified ("clean") audit opinion from KPMG US. The review covered Tether International's financial statements for 2025, and its results have become a significant milestone for the entire industry.
According to the audit results, as of December 31, 2025, Tether's reserves exceeded its liabilities by $6.814 billion. For comparison: in the company's latest quarterly report, this figure was only $4.11 billion. Thus, the actual safety margin turned out to be significantly higher than the conservative estimate suggested.
What exactly did the auditors review
The scale of the review is impressive. The KPMG team did not limit itself to a selective reconciliation of documents but conducted a comprehensive analysis of all key sections of the financial statements: from transactions and ownership rights to asset valuation and internal control systems. The auditors personally recounted and inspected every gold bar in the company's accounts, indicating an unprecedented level of review depth.
Notably, Tether had previously defended for years the practice of publishing quarterly attestations from the audit firm BDO instead of a full audit. The auditor change occurred in March, and now we see the result — the first opinion in the issuer's history under AICPA standards without a single qualification.
Why the safety cushion shrank after the reporting date
However, there is also a troubling signal. The KPMG opinion reflects the state of affairs at the end of 2025, but nearly 20 months have passed since then. According to the BDO report dated July 31, excess reserves as of June 30, 2026, amounted to only $4.11 billion — roughly 40% less than what KPMG auditors confirmed.
Such a discrepancy may indicate unrealized losses or withdrawals from other parts of the reserve. One factor was likely the decline in the spot price of gold by more than 20% after the January peak — and Tether holds part of its reserves in the precious metal and bitcoin in addition to Treasury bills.
What the "clean" audit does not solve
It is important to understand the boundaries of this opinion. The audited legal entity and the group for which the attestation was conducted do not coincide. In the report for the fourth quarter of 2025, Tether reported a profit of $6.34 billion for the same balance sheet date — that is approximately $480 million less than the audited data.
Furthermore, the company has still not disclosed the financial statements themselves. External analysts cannot verify the figures independently, relying only on the final assessment. The audit does not address the company's ability to fulfill redemption requests, liquidity under stress conditions, or counterparty risk — issues that are becoming increasingly acute as the final version of the GENIUS Act approaches in the US.
My view: obtaining a "clean" opinion from KPMG is undoubtedly a strong step toward strengthening trust in Tether. However, this is only the first stage. The real test will be the publication of the statements themselves with the auditors' signature. Until then, the market is forced to take things on faith, and that is no longer enough in 2026.