KPMG audits Tether accounts and confirms excess reserves of $6.8 billion

KPMG has just decided on Tether. The independent audit firm gives the maximum rating of “without reservation” to the issuer of USDT, confirming that its reserves exceed its commitments by $6.814 billion as of December 31, 2025. The world’s most widely used stablecoin has just passed a real exam. Not a simple technical inspection.

Stablecoin: what the KPMG audit really confirms on Tether

$6.814 billion. This is the surplus that Tether displays between its reserves and the commitments linked to its tokens in circulation, as of December 31, 2025. But the real change is not in the amount. He is in the method. Until now, Tether published quarterly certificates, a photo at a given time produced by a third party on a perimeter defined by the company itself. A complete audit is something else. KPMG examined:

• The balance sheet;
• The income statement;
• Cash flow;
• Property records;
• Valuations;
• The counterparties;
• Each gold bar held by Tether, rather than just the custodian’s records.

This nuance changes everything for a stablecoin because for years, the question hanging over Tether (USDT) has always been the same: do the reserves really exist, in the proportions announced? For the first time, the answer no longer comes from Tether. It comes from a Big Four which stakes its own reputation on what it certifies. It is this shift, from validated internal control to engaging external audit, which justifies why we are talking here of a turning point rather than a simple communication update.

Tether (USDT) claims historic turning point after KPMG audit

Unsurprisingly, Paolo Ardoino did not hide his pleasure. The CEO of Tether called this audit the largest inaugural audit in the history of finance! A comparison difficult to verify independently, but which sets the tone of its communication… offensive, almost vengeful. The message is therefore clear. Years of criticism, doubts, accusations of lack of transparency, swept away by a document signed by an independent firm.

Ardoino also mentions the 650 million users who trust USDT on a daily basis, particularly in emerging markets, for savings, commerce, protection against local monetary instability. A huge user base, often excluded from the traditional banking system. Basically, the argument is valid because a KPMG audit is not nothing. In terms of form, triumphalism deserves to be taken with a little perspective. A company that communicates about its own victory is never in the best position to assess its exact scope.

The detail that changes everything for USDT?

After the audit of Tether carried out by KPMGit appears that the audited entity is called Tether International, SA de CV, a subsidiary controlled by a parent structure which is Tether Global Investments Fund, SICAF, SA Cory Klippsten, CEO of Swan.com, confirms that this parent structure has only one director which is Omar Rossi. The latter exercises at the discretion of Giancarlo Devasini, historical power figure behind Tether. And to date, no audit of this parent company is planned.

This is not an accusation of fraud. It’s a perimeter reminder. The KPMG audit covers a subsidiary, not the entire shareholder base of the group. An ICIJ survey, published at the beginning of August, goes in the same direction. For months, she has documented the persistent opacity around the ownership structure of the issuer of the stablecoin Tether (USDT), a company valued at several hundred billion dollars whose cogs are still difficult to map.

The $6.8 billion in excess reserves of Tether (USDT) is a number verified and signed by KPMG after its audit. But a stablecoin that weighs so much on the market deserves an audit worthy of its entire structure. Not just from a subsidiary.