Tether has completed the first independent audit of its annual financial statements, and KPMG U.S. has issued an unqualified opinion on the company's 2025 accounts. The audited statements showed that reserves exceeded token-related liabilities by $6.814 billion as of December 31, 2025. Tether announced the completion in an official statement.

The audit covered Tether International, S.A. de C.V., the entity that provides USDT. KPMG examined the firm's financial position at year-end as well as its operations and cash flows over the entire year. The step had been long promised: until now, Tether's reserve disclosures consisted of quarterly attestations, and the company's transparency has faced scrutiny dating back to 2021 settlements with the New York Attorney General and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over past statements about its reserves.

The announcement circulated widely on social media:

BREAKING: Tether just completed the largest inaugural financial audit in history KPMG gave it a clean opinion, counted every gold bar and confirmed $6.814B more reserves than liabilities no other stablecoin has had an inaugural audit at this scale massive moment for… pic.twitter.com/i0rH8NpuNO

— WallStreetBets (@wallstreetbets), August 13, 2026 (x.com)

What KPMG Examined in Tether's First Full Audit

The audit covered the balance sheet, the income statement, the changes in equity, and the cash flow statement. According to KPMG, the accounts were prepared fairly, in accordance with GAAP in the United States.

An unqualified opinion means auditors found no material items in the financial records that would require a qualification. Such an opinion does not provide a warranty of Tether's future activity, and the conclusion is based only on the documents provided to KPMG.

KPMG provided a separate statement on the unqualified opinion to The Block but declined additional comments, citing the need for client confidentiality. The audit statements themselves are not publicly available at the moment. Bloomberg Tax also reported on the announcement.

KPMG audited the transactions, the internal processes, the ownership of assets, their valuation, counterparties, and documentation, and the auditor considered the evidence supporting each balance sheet item. Auditors checked all bars of gold owned by Tether along with the unique identification number of each bar, and the auditor did not rely solely on documentation provided by custodians or counterparties.

The engagement was also more comprehensive than the quarterly attestations Tether performs on its reserves. An attestation normally involves evaluating management's reserve numbers on a single reporting date, whereas KPMG's audit covered the full accounts and documentation for the entire year. Point-in-time attestations have been the customary form of reserve disclosure across the stablecoin sector, so a completed annual audit goes beyond the industry's usual practice.

The process began in March, when Tether hired a Big Four accounting firm that the company later revealed to be KPMG. KPMG's first step was to consider Tether's internal processes and procedures. Tether presented the engagement as setting a new quality standard for the digital asset economy.

How Tether's Reserve Surplus Changed in 2026

The $6.814 billion surplus reflects Tether's status on December 31, 2025, and it is not an indicator of the company's current funds. Quarterly figures have been changing during the first six months of 2026.

According to BDO's attestation as of June 30, the total value of Tether's assets was $187.75 billion, while liabilities stood at $183.64 billion, leaving excess reserves of $4.11 billion. Three months earlier, excess reserves were $8.23 billion.

In the second quarter of 2026, Tether announced roughly $1.5 billion in net operating profit. The supply of USDT stood at around $184.6 billion, and the company accounted for over 60% of the entire global stablecoin market.

U.S. Stablecoin Rules Remain in the Background

The audit comes against the backdrop of the United States' implementation of the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin legislation signed into law in July 2025 that establishes federal standards for payment stablecoins, including reserve, disclosure, supervision, and anti-money laundering requirements.

An unqualified audit opinion does not indicate compliance with those requirements, nor does it ensure the continuation of listing on U.S.-based exchanges. Requirements for non-U.S. issuers matter in this context, since USDT is issued in a foreign country by a company.

The company said it would adhere to the newly adopted framework. However, federal agencies have not yet finalized all of the implementing rules, and the U.S. Treasury put forward anti-money laundering regulations in April.

The firm also supports USAT, an independent token tailored to the U.S. market. USAT is issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, and its reserves are kept by Cantor Fitzgerald.