Tether Turns to “Big Four” Accounting Firm to Verify USDT Backing as Supply Nears $186B

Tether has appointed a Big Four accounting firm to conduct
its first full financial statement audit of the reserves backing its
billions worth of USDT stablecoin. The company previously relied on periodic
attestations, which offered limited snapshots of its assets at specific points
in time.

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Tether recently announced that it generated more than 10 billion
dollars in net profit in 2025 and ended the year with 6.3 billion dollars in
excess reserves. The filing, which covers the period to 31 December 2025, shows
total assets of about 192.9 billion dollars against 186.5 billion dollars of
liabilities, all tied mainly to its USD₮ stablecoin.

Tether Signs Big Four Firm to Complete First Full Audit, Setting a New Quality Standard for the Digital Asset EconomyRead more: https://t.co/rtsB7l4nJL

— Tether (@tether) March 24, 2026

Audit to Check USDT Reserves

The new audit will cover Tether’s assets, liabilities,
internal controls and reporting systems. Management said the firm was selected
through a competitive process but did not disclose which of the four global
networks, Deloitte, EY, KPMG or PwC, secured the mandate.

Tether described the engagement as operating at “Big Four
audit standard”. It said it chose the Big Four firm through a competitive
selection, arguing that its own operations already align with the standards
such auditors expect.

Read more: Dollar-Pegged Stablecoins Surge to $313B in Risk-Off Pivot amid US–Iran Conflict

It added that the engagement will proceed to completion and
that the review will assess how the company measures and reports the reserves
backing USDT.

If Tether delivers a clean audit, it could decisively silence long-running “Tether is a scam” accusations and force every other stablecoin issuer to meet a new transparency bar. However, according to Simon Taylor, “If they don’t, the GENIUS Act’s foreign issuer loophole becomes the biggest regulatory debate of 2027.”

Tether says its reserves consist mainly of U.S. Treasury
bills, along with smaller allocations to gold, bitcoin and various loans. This
mix has faced scrutiny from critics who question the liquidity and risk of some
holdings, particularly during periods of market stress.

The full audit aims to address long-running questions over
whether USDT is fully backed one-to-one by liquid reserves and to raise the
level of disclosure in the stablecoin market.

USDT Supply Nears $186B

According to Tether, total USD₮ in circulation passed $186
billion after nearly $50 billion of new tokens were issued in
2025, with around 30 billion dollars created in the second half alone as demand
for dollar liquidity increased in emerging markets, payments and trading.

🔥 JUST IN: Tether posted over $10B profit in 2025, with record $135B in U.S. Treasuries and USD₮ supply surpassing $183B. pic.twitter.com/4fB9a87Lwb

— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) October 31, 2025

Total reserve assets rose to nearly 193 billion dollars,
leaving reserves above liabilities and supporting the token’s outstanding
supply.

Tether’s holdings show a strong concentration in U.S.
government debt. Direct U.S. Treasury securities exceeded 122 billion dollars
at year-end, while total direct and indirect exposure, including overnight
reverse repos, went beyond 141 billion dollars.

This level of exposure places the company among the larger
holders of U.S. government debt globally, while its separate proprietary
investment portfolio in areas such as AI, energy, media and fintech, worth more
than 20 billion dollars, sits outside the reserves that back USD₮.

Tether also launched a U.S.-regulated stablecoin, USA₮, last year
and appointed former White House crypto adviser Bo Hines as CEO of the new
entity. It marked the stablecoin issuers push into the regulated U.S. market,
signaling its intent to align more closely with domestic compliance standards
under the new GENIUS Act.

This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.
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