{"id":7802,"date":"2026-03-25T07:25:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T07:25:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=7802"},"modified":"2026-03-25T07:25:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T07:25:38","slug":"tether-promises-long-awaited-audit-but-keeps-accounting-firm-a-mystery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=7802","title":{"rendered":"Tether Promises Long-Awaited Audit\u2014But Keeps Accounting Firm a Mystery"},"content":{"rendered":"

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  • Tether announced it has engaged an unnamed Big Four accounting firm to conduct the first full independent audit of the US$192 billion in reserves backing USDT.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • The company declined to identify the firm or provide a completion timeline, extending a pattern of audit promises dating to a failed 2017 engagement with Friedman LLP.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • The move follows the GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, which requires foreign stablecoin issuers with more than US$50 billion in volume to undergo annual reserve audits.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    Tether says it has hired a Big Four accounting firm to conduct the first full independent audit of the reserves behind USDT.<\/p>\n

    The stablecoin issuer announced the engagement on March 24 but did not name the firm or say when the audit would be completed. USDT has a market capitalisation of about US$184 billion (AU$263 billion), while Tether says total reserves stand at roughly US$192 billion (AU$275 billion).<\/p>\n

    Chief executive Paolo Ardoino said the audit is meant to strengthen confidence in the stablecoin\u2019s reserve infrastructure, and CFO Simon McWilliams said the firm was chosen through a competitive process and that onboarding, including reviews of systems, controls and reporting, had already been completed.<\/p>\n

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    \n

    The Big Four Firm was selected through a competitive process because the organization is already operating at Big Four audit standard; the audit will be delivered.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n Simon McWilliams, chief financial officer of Tether. <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    Related: SEC Advances Plan to Exclude Most Crypto Assets from Securities Rules<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Pressure to go Beyond Attestations<\/h2>\n

    The announcement matters because Tether has promised a full audit before and failed to deliver one. A 2017 engagement with Friedman LLP ended without a completed report, and Ardoino said in 2025 that securing a Big Four firm had proved difficult.<\/p>\n

    Until now, Tether\u2019s reserve disclosures have relied on quarterly attestations from BDO Italia. Those reports provide limited assurance at a specific point in time, rather than the deeper examination of internal controls and asset verification expected in a full audit.<\/p>\n

    The timing also reflects rising regulatory pressure. The GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, requires foreign stablecoin issuers handling more than US$50 billion (AU$71 billion) in volume to undergo annual reserve audits. Tether is well above that threshold.<\/p>\n

    Tether says most of its reserves are held in US Treasury bills, with smaller positions in Bitcoin, loans and about 148 tonnes of physical gold valued at around US$23 billion (AU$32 billion).<\/p>\n

    Its reserve claims have faced scrutiny for years, and we\u2019re talking way back. In 2021, Tether paid US$18.5 million (AU$25 million) to settle with the New York Attorney General over misleading statements about backing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

    The CFTC also fined the company US$41 million (AU$58 million) for overstating the extent of its dollar reserves.<\/p>\n

    The new audit could become Tether\u2019s most significant transparency test yet, but for now the company has offered a promise without a firm name or deadline.<\/p>\n

    Read more: Bitcoin\u2019s \u2018Muted\u2019 Cycle: Why US$100K Became the Turning Point<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

    GENIUS Act,Tether#Tether #Promises #LongAwaited #AuditBut #Accounting #Firm #Mystery1774423538<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Tether announced it has engaged an unnamed Big Four accounting firm to conduct the first full independent audit of the US$192 billion in reserves backing USDT. The company declined to identify the firm or provide a completion timeline, extending a pattern of audit promises dating to a failed 2017 engagement with Friedman LLP. The move<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[3154,3561,2096,2965,2837,3255,218],"class_list":{"0":"post-7802","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bitcoin","8":"tag-accounting","9":"tag-auditbut","10":"tag-firm","11":"tag-longawaited","12":"tag-mystery","13":"tag-promises","14":"tag-tether"},"yoast_head":"\nTether Promises Long-Awaited Audit\u2014But Keeps Accounting Firm a Mystery - Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=7802\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tether Promises Long-Awaited Audit\u2014But Keeps Accounting Firm a Mystery\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tether announced it has engaged an unnamed Big Four accounting firm to conduct the first full independent audit of the US$192 billion in reserves backing USDT. 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