Tether’s Reserves Top Liabilities by $6.814B in First Full KPMG Audit

Tether’s reserves exceeded its liabilities by $6.814 billion at the end of 2025, according to the first full independent financial statement audit of the stablecoin issuer, completed by KPMG U.S. The Big Four firm issued an unqualified opinion — the cleanest outcome an auditor can deliver — covering Tether’s balance sheet, income statement and cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2025.

The audit goes well beyond the quarterly reserve attestations Tether has published for years. This time KPMG examined transactions, systems, ownership records, valuations and counterparty relationships across the company’s full books, not just a snapshot of assets versus liabilities.

Gold verification was part of the scope: KPMG physically inspected and counted every individual gold bar held by Tether, checking existence and identifying marks rather than relying on custodian reports alone. Tether’s disclosure did not detail its Bitcoin holdings.

Why the surplus number matters

The $6.814 billion cushion is the figure holders and regulators will scrutinize most, since it represents the buffer between what backs USDT and what the company owes token holders. A clean, full-scope audit — rather than a point-in-time attestation — is a materially stronger form of assurance, because it subjects the underlying evidence and processes to independent testing over the entire year.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino framed the result as a rebuttal to long-standing skeptics. “For years, some detractors said an audit of Tether could not be completed. They said the Company refused to subject itself to the most rigorous scrutiny. We have once again proven them wrong,” he said. “Completing our financial statement audit sets a new standard for the industry and reflects the leadership we’ve brought to this market from the start.”

Tether also called the review “the largest inaugural financial audit in history,” with Ardoino adding on X that it is, “by at least an order of magnitude, the largest inaugural audit in the history of finance.”

USDT’s scale behind the numbers

The audit lands as Tether’s business keeps expanding. The company generated more than $10 billion in net profit in 2025, and reported $1.5 billion in net operating profit in the second quarter of this year, driven largely by income from its U.S. Treasury holdings and repurchase agreements.

USDT’s market capitalization sits at roughly $183 billion, according to DefiLlama, giving it about 61% of the $301 billion stablecoin market — more than double the roughly $72 billion held by its closest competitor, Circle’s USDC.

For traders and investors parking capital in USDT, the audit provides the first independently verified, full-year picture of the reserves underpinning the token, replacing years of narrower quarterly snapshots. Whether it satisfies regulators pushing for tighter stablecoin oversight is the next question the industry will be watching.

Read more: XRP Holds $1.00 as White House Sets Aug. 19 Crypto Meeting, CLARITY Act Slips to September

Sources

• cointelegraph.com
• bitcoinmagazine.com
• u.today
• theblock.co