Rich by Coin

Tether, the issuer of the $184 billion USDT stablecoin, has announced its first full audit after signing an agreement with an unnamed Big Four accounting firm. While the company has always processed redemption requests for users converting USDT into U.S. dollars through bank accounts, it has drawn repeated suspicions and accusations that its reserves don’t match up with its stablecoin token supply over the years. In a company blog post, Tether called the upcoming review the largest inaugural financial audit in the history of financial markets.

The effort covers the company’s mix of digital assets, traditional holdings, and tokenized liabilities at a scale comparable to major sovereign institutions. Tether positioned the audit as one element of a wider push to secure trust in USDT through stronger transparency measures, compliance programs, and law enforcement partnerships. Redemption of USDT tokens has remained available to users throughout this entire time.

Cantor Fitzgerald chief Howard Lutnick later confirmed that his firm holds U.S. Treasuries for Tether and that the reserves remain intact. Tether originally simply kept its reserves in cash and short-term dollar equivalents. It later expanded into gold and bitcoin positions and now counts among the largest global holders of physical gold, with roughly 148 tonnes valued at nearly $23 billion.

Last year, S&P Global pointed to the company’s increased reliance on bitcoin holdings as a key reason for rating USDT as “weak.” That said, S&P’s rating model may not be fit for a company building on top of a new global monetary system like Bitcoin. Relatively limited transparency on Tether’s operations has weighed on the broader crypto market for years, as market observers have argued that any major failure at the company could trigger a black swan collapse across the entire industry. Whatever the accuracy of earlier warnings, the arrival of a Big Four audit stands to strengthen confidence in the asset that likely ranks second only to bitcoin in overall importance to crypto. That is, of course, if Tether’s claims all turn out to be true.