The USDT issuer has engaged Big Four firm KPMG for its first complete independent financial audit, alongside PwC for internal systems preparation.
Tether has engaged KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting firms, to conduct the first complete independent financial audit of the USDT issuer. The news was reported by the Financial Times on March 27, citing sources familiar with the matter. The company, headquartered in El Salvador, has also hired PwC to prepare its internal systems ahead of the audit.
The announcement follows the statement released by Tether on Tuesday, March 25, in which the company had said it had “entered into a formal agreement with a Big Four firm to complete its first full independent financial audit”. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino commented: “Trust is built when institutions are willing to open themselves completely to scrutiny”, adding that the audit “represents years of work to strengthen our systems so that Tether can meet the highest standards applied in global finance”.
Previously, Tether relied on monthly attestations issued by BDO Italia, which confirmed USDT’s reserve coverage but do not amount to a full financial audit of the financial statements. The KPMG audit therefore represents a significant qualitative leap in terms of transparency and accounting scrutiny.
USDT remains the largest stablecoin by market capitalization. According to data from The Block, the total stablecoin supply stands at $298.9 billion, with USDT accounting for $184.2 billion. In second place is Circle‘s USDC, with a market capitalization of nearly $80 billion.
The pursuit of a full audit comes in a context where Tether’s advisors have evaluated a capital raise of $5 billion — a figure scaled back from initial negotiations that ranged between $15 and $20 billion tied to a valuation of $500 billion.
