The Financial Times reported on Friday that Tether hired KPMG to conduct its first full audit. $USDTPwC has been hired to examine the company’s financial statements and help prepare its internal systems, people familiar with the matter said.
This reported obligation comes on the heels of Tether’s announcement on Tuesday that it has formally engaged a Big Four firm for an initial financial statement audit, although Tether did not name the provider, and after a long-standing commitment to provide a full review of its books while relying instead on periodic provision certifications from BDO Italia, the Italian member firm of the BDO Global Accounting Network that creates USDt ($USDT) Warranty Report from 2022 onwards.
This movement is done as a tether ($USDT) is weighing a large-scale equity raise versus expanding into the U.S. under the new federal stablecoin framework created by the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act.
$USDTWith approximately $185 billion in circulation, the dollar-linked token is the largest stablecoin by market capitalization, according to CoinGecko. Tether announced in January that it holds more than $122 billion in direct U.S. Treasury securities and has approximately $141 billion in total Treasury exposure, including related products such as overnight reverse repurchase agreements.
Related: Tether CEO slams S&P ratings agency and influencers spreading USDt FUD
KPMG’s comprehensive audit is expected to go beyond a snapshot of reserves and cover Tether’s assets, liabilities and internal controls across its vast balance sheet, a process the firm is billing as “the largest initial audit in financial market history.”
Tether said the Big Four companies were selected through a competitive process and already operate under the Big Four “auditing standards,” but it has not yet announced when the audits will be completed.
Cointelegraph reached out to Tether and KPMG but did not receive a response in time for publication. PwC declined to comment for this story.
KPMG audit and Tether’s funding ambitions
Bloomberg reported in September 2025 that Tether was considering raising up to $20 billion in new equity, implying a valuation of $500 billion. Tether CEO Paulo Ardoino disputed these claims, telling Cointelegraph in February that no such number had been agreed upon, while maintaining the company’s $500 billion profit-based valuation target.
The company has previously paid a $41 million fine to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for what regulators called “false or misleading statements” about its reserves.
In a separate lawsuit, Tether agreed to an $18.5 million settlement with New York’s attorney general for allegedly concealing losses and misleading investors. $USDTis supporting. Under its contract with NYAG, Tether was required to submit detailed quarterly reserve reports for two years, but later dropped its objections to releasing those materials.
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