KPMG U.S. issues unqualified audit opinion on Tether’s 2025 financial statements – the most positive form of opinion an independent auditor can issue
13 August 2026 – Tether, the largest company in the digital asset industry, today announced the successful completion of a full independent audit of Tether International, S.A. de C.V.’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2025, conducted by KPMG U.S. The audit, completed in accordance with applicable professional standards, represents one of the most significant milestones in Tether’s history, it is also the largest inaugural financial audit in history. Completed at a scale and within the highest standards, it establishes a new benchmark for financial scrutiny across the stablecoin market.
KPMG issued an unqualified audit opinion of Tether’s financial statements, meaning in KPMG’s opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2025, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year ended in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. The audit complements Tether’s existing quarterly reserve reporting, examining the transactions, systems, ownership records, valuations, counterparties, and underlying evidence supporting the Company’s financial statements. An unqualified opinion – meaning an opinion issued without reservations, exceptions, or caveats – is the most positive form of opinion that an independent auditor can issue.
As part of the process, KPMG physically counted and inspected every individual gold bar held by Tether, verifying the existence and identifying information of each bar rather than relying solely on reports from custodians or counterparties. Rigor was also applied across the entirety of Tether’s financial statements – the full balance sheet, including the assets composing the reserves and the liabilities represented by the issued token, as well as the income statement, change of equity, and cash flows statements. Each area was subject to independent substantive testing and verification.
“This is a defining moment for the stablecoin industry,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. “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. 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.”
“KPMG did not simply review a set of headline figures,” Ardoino continued. “KPMG conducted a full and thorough audit in accordance with AICPA standards – examining the assets, transactions, systems, documentation, and other evidence supporting our financial statements. The result is an unqualified opinion; in other words, it means Tether has a clean audit.”
“This is a landmark moment for Tether and for the industry we serve – a milestone in Tether’s commitment to transparency,” said Simon McWilliams, Chief Financial Officer of Tether. “We subjected our financial statements to the scrutiny of a Big Four audit, one of the most ambitious projects in the Company’s history, and completed it with the highest priority following the announcement of our signing with a Big Four auditor. This was our Finance team stepping into the highest league and leading in it. We hold ourselves to the standards seen at the world’s leading companies – and we will keep raising them over time. Tether’s audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 report reserves exceeding the liabilities by $6.814 billion, confirming the quality of the public attestation reports.”
Tether has provided regular independent attestations of the assets backing its issued tokens for years. The completion of a financial statement audit represents a fundamental step forward in the Company’s financial reporting and the fulfillment of one of its longest-held commitments.
The achievement also carries implications beyond Tether. Stablecoins have become an increasingly important component of global financial infrastructure, supporting savings, payments, remittances, trading, and access to U.S. dollars for hundreds of millions of people.
As their role grows, the financial governance and independent scrutiny applied to stablecoin issuers must grow with them. By voluntarily subjecting its complete financial statements to this level of examination, Tether is setting a higher standard for accountability across the market.
“People may describe this as the end of a long journey, but we see it as the beginning of the next one,” Ardoino said. “Tether has evolved from a disruptive stablecoin issuer into one of the most financially significant and operationally sophisticated private companies in the world. This audit demonstrates that our financial infrastructure and governance have evolved alongside that responsibility. Today, more than 650 million users across all emerging markets continue to rely on Tether daily, choosing USD₮ as their currency, for their life savings, for their commerce, for the future of their children. These are people who have been left behind by the traditional financial system, and they trust our Company to remain resilient amidst all the global uncertainty that plagues the world – the proof of that stability is no longer just a Tether promise; it’s a signed opinion.”
