The unnamed “Big Four” firm Tether chose to audit its $185 billion USDT stablecoin is KPMG, the Financial Times reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Tether has also engaged PwC to prepare its internal systems ahead of the audit, marking the most concrete step yet towards full financial control for the world’s largest stablecoin issuer. CoinDesk has contacted Tether for comment on the matter.
CoinDesk reported earlier this week that Tether had said it had entered into a formal engagement with a Big Four auditor, but the stablecoin issuer did not identify the firm. CFO Simon McWilliams said at the time that Tether was “already operating to the Big Four audit standard” and that “the audit will be delivered.”
All this comes as the El Salvador-based company prepares for a US expansion and a potential fundraising round. The Financial Times previously reported that Tether faced investor hesitancy in efforts to raise $15 billion to $20 billion for a $500 billion valuation, with concerns centered on pricing and regulatory risks.
The audit push lands at a crucial time. USDT, with about $185 billion in circulation, serves as a reserve currency in crypto markets and a major buyer of US Treasuries, connecting digital assets to traditional financial systems at scale.
A full audit of the accounts would go far beyond the monthly statements currently published by BDO Italia, requiring a detailed review of assets, liabilities, internal controls and reporting systems.
This level of disclosure has long been an issue for critics, as Tether has faced persistent questions about its reserves since its launch in 2014 and historically fought transparency.
In 2021, CoinDesk filed a FOIL request with the New York Attorney General’s office seeking documents on USDT’s reserve composition. Tether fought the release in court and lost twice.
The documents, received after a two-year legal battle in 2023, revealed that Tether held the vast majority of its $40.6 billion in reserves with Bahamas-based Deltec Bank as of March 2021, with heavy exposure to commercial paper issued by Chinese and international banks, including Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China Hong Kong and ICBC.
Tether’s move toward greater transparency coincides with a changing regulatory landscape in the United States as crypto as a whole becomes a mainstream asset class used by Wall Street.
The GENIUS Act, signed into law last July, established the first federal framework for stablecoins in the United States, under which Tether has already launched a compatible dollar-pegged token, USAT.
