Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, has announced plans to engage one of the so-called Big Four accounting firms to conduct a comprehensive audit of its reserves for the first time. The announcement was made in a notice published on Tuesday, though Tether did not disclose which firm had been selected. The four firms that make up the Big Four are Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
According to Tether’s chief financial officer Simon McWilliams, the firm was chosen through a competitive selection process. The audit will cover a full independent review of the company’s financial statements, including those related to its US dollar-pegged token USDT. The scope of the review will encompass assets, reserves, tokenised liabilities, internal controls, and financial reporting systems.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino framed the audit as a matter of public accountability rather than a routine compliance measure. He stated that for the hundreds of millions of individuals and businesses that rely on USDT daily, the audit represents confidence in the infrastructure they depend on. Ardoino has previously indicated that a substantial share of Tether’s reserves is held in US Treasurys, while reports from BDO Global have also shown holdings in physical gold, Bitcoin, and secured loans.
USDT currently holds a market capitalisation of approximately $184 billion, making it the largest stablecoin in the cryptocurrency industry. That figure is more than double the market cap of Circle‘s USDC, which stands at around $78 billion. However, a report published earlier this month by Japanese investment bank Mizuho found that USDC surpassed USDT in transaction volume for the first time since 2019.
Questions surrounding Tether’s financial stability drew attention in December, when BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes warned that USDT could face significant difficulties if the value of its reserve assets declined. Those concerns were disputed by James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, who pushed back on the claims. Tether maintains that all of its tokens are pegged one-to-one with a corresponding fiat currency and are fully backed by its reserves.
The announcement follows the passage of the GENIUS Act in the United States, which established a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. In response to the legislation, Tether launched a separate stablecoin called USAt in January, designed to comply with the federal law. Anchorage Digital Bank serves as the issuer for that token. The full audit is seen as a further step toward meeting the transparency expectations set by the evolving regulatory environment.
Originally reported by CoinTelegraph.
