Tether completes comprehensive audit by KPMG in the US, verifying reserves of 150 tons of gold and 100,000 BTC

Author|The Block

Compiled by| Wu Says Blockchain

On August 14, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino discussed in detail the comprehensive independent audit completed by KPMG U.S., one of the Big Four accounting firms, during an exclusive interview with The Starting Block. This audit covers the financial statements of Tether International, S.A. de C.V. for the year ending December 31, 2025. Ardoino stated that Tether's balance sheet is not complex, and the delay in completing the comprehensive audit was mainly related to the previous U.S. government's hostile attitude towards the digital asset industry. In the future, Tether plans to undergo a comprehensive financial audit annually while continuing to release quarterly assurance reports.

In addition, Ardoino responded to questions surrounding Tether's reserves, equity transparency, and private financing. He stated that Tether does not need external capital, but there is significant interest in its shares, and the company will carefully select potential shareholders that align with its mission. He also revealed that Tether has accumulated approximately 150 tons of gold and over 100,000 bitcoins, and intends to provide budget support for work utilizing artificial intelligence to review bitcoin code and wallet security.

Guest statements do not represent Wu Says' views and do not constitute any investment advice. Please strictly follow local laws and regulations. Audio transcription and translation were completed by GPT and may contain errors.

Why Has Tether Only Completed a Comprehensive Financial Audit Now?

Gareth Jenkinson: Welcome back to The Starting Block. In this episode, we have an online exclusive interview with Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino. In the past 24 hours, Tether announced that it has received a formal audit from one of the Big Four accounting firms, something critics have been demanding for years. We invited Paolo to elaborate on this audit. First, it’s great to have you back on the show. How are you feeling right now?

Paolo Ardoino: Thank you very much, Gareth. This is undoubtedly a very important day for Tether and for me personally. Tether was established in 2014, and we have worked very hard over the years to build an excellent technology. Now, traditional financial institutions are starting to pay attention to this technology.

Having the Big Four accounting firms complete the comprehensive financial audit we previously promised is like the cherry on top of this beautiful cake. I cannot express how excited the entire team is; everyone is thrilled. It feels great.

Gareth Jenkinson: I entered this industry in 2017, which is far less time than you have been in it. I remember in the first couple of years, Tether faced a lot of criticism for not undergoing an audit for a long time. Can you talk about why it was so difficult to complete the audit in the past? What efforts did you make to finally get this done?

Paolo Ardoino: First, I want to clarify that the entity being audited is Tether International, S.A. de C.V., the issuer of USDT. Technically, auditing this entity is quite simple because there are only a few categories of assets on our balance sheet. Therefore, I believe the operational complexity of conducting this type of audit is not high.

We have very robust bookkeeping processes, strict management, and a strong aversion to risk. You should remember what the digital asset industry went through in 2022 and 2023. Our main competitors were on the brink of crisis due to risks faced by several banks, but Tether has successfully navigated these very difficult times each time.

However, when the most important country in the world, the United States, has a government that is hostile to the industry, the situation changes, and that was the case with the previous U.S. government. Especially with key figures like Elizabeth Warren publicly criticizing Tether and even suggesting that auditing firms should steer clear of us. This created a certain level of uncertainty for the accounting firms.

The current U.S. government has clearly stated that digital assets are very important for the future of the U.S. and the world. This is an excellent technology and a field where the U.S. hopes to take the lead. Therefore, we almost immediately re-engaged with several of the Big Four accounting firms and ultimately decided to contract with KPMG U.S.

Tether Chooses KPMG U.S. for the Strictest Possible Scrutiny

Paolo Ardoino: Interestingly, even when we chose a non-U.S. accounting firm, BDO, to issue assurance reports in the past, it sparked controversy. Therefore, we decided to work with KPMG U.S. to subject ourselves to the strictest possible scrutiny.

We have proven our capabilities throughout this process and demonstrated that we can handle such scrutiny. The entire team was completely focused on accomplishing this task. I have stated multiple times that a comprehensive audit would be our highest priority. The change in the U.S. government's attitude allowed these accounting firms to come back to the negotiating table, for which I am very grateful.

For a company like Tether, the balance sheet itself is not complex. On one side, the liabilities are the tokens that have been issued, and on the other side are all the reserves backing those tokens. According to the assurance data as of December 31, 2025, we have over $6 billion in remaining equity, which has also been confirmed by the auditing firm.

These are all very important. In the future, we will undergo a comprehensive financial audit annually while continuing to release quarterly assurance reports. I believe this represents the highest level of transparency that the industry can achieve.

Ardoino: Tether Redeemed About $7 Billion in 48 Hours

Gareth Jenkinson: Over the years, I have found this matter very interesting. One of the main criticisms of Tether from the outside is how we know that Tether has not minted USDT in large quantities without sufficient collateral. This is also why the market considers an audit to be very necessary.

However, even in the past 24 hours, I have still seen a lot of criticism. For example, some believe Tether should further disclose its equity structure and participant information. Now that you have completed the audit by the Big Four accounting firms, how do you view this ongoing atmosphere of criticism?

Paolo Ardoino: Today, I responded to an account, Bitfinex'ed, that I hadn't replied to in a long time. When I was a child, I watched "Happy Days" on Italian television. This show was popular worldwide, and it was aired in Italy too. The character Fonzie always struggled to say "I was wrong," and every time he tried to admit he was wrong, he would stutter.

I feel that many people have the same problem. This is a fundamental issue: many people cannot admit they are wrong, so they must constantly look for new excuses. Ultimately, this is their own problem. If a person cannot admit their mistakes, they will never truly grow. Frankly, I don’t care.

We have proven ourselves multiple times. We have completed larger-scale redemptions in a day, 24 hours, or 48 hours than any financial institution in history.

In 2022, we redeemed about $7 billion in 48 hours, which was about 10% of our reserve size at the time. Any financial institution or bank that faces a redemption of 10% or more in a short period would be in crisis. Such performance is very unique for Tether.

Frankly, I am willing to remain vigilant and accept criticism because criticism makes us better and stronger, and it gives us the will, strength, and motivation to wake up every day with the intention of proving all critics wrong. That’s great.

To some extent, I even like being seen as a "villain" by some people because it allows us to be heroes in the eyes of the 650 million users who are not served by the entire financial industry. I can face myself calmly. Every morning when I wake up, I believe we are doing something good, that I am doing the right thing, and that my team is doing the right thing.

Therefore, no criticism can discourage us or force us off our path and mission.

Auditors Count Every Gold Bar in Tether's Reserves

Gareth Jenkinson: There’s another interesting detail about this audit. It is said that you had the auditors count every gold bar in the reserves. It sounds a bit humorous, almost like a joke, but is that really the case?

Paolo Ardoino: Our goal is to eliminate all possible doubts, of course, excluding those foolish doubts.

There is a great saying in the bitcoin space: "Don't trust, verify." I believe gold is a very good tool. Over the past few years, Tether has accumulated about 150 tons of gold and also holds a considerable amount of bitcoin, exceeding 100,000 coins.

Verifying bitcoin is relatively easy because you can prove ownership of a bitcoin address. But verifying gold requires manual effort. To confirm the actual existence of gold and the accuracy of the information about the gold bars, auditors must be skilled at moving heavy objects and need to have decent muscle.

However, this work is necessary and correct. We are very proud of it because it once again proves that we have nothing to hide. As I said, we have not left any stone unturned, both literally and metaphorically.

Tether Does Not Need Capital, but There Is Huge Interest in Its Shares

Gareth Jenkinson: There have been previous media reports that Tether is conducting a round of private equity financing. Has this plan been shelved? Can you reveal more details? Is Tether still considering financing?

Paolo Ardoino: If you pay attention, you will notice that we have never officially announced anything. Some media outlets have decided on the entire narrative themselves; they pose questions and then answer them, which is quite amusing.

We generally do not comment on such matters, but there is indeed significant interest in Tether's shares. The number of bitcoins is only 21 million, and Tether's shares are also very scarce; we currently have only a few shareholders. This is very good, and I like this state.

We are still receiving a lot of attention. While not everyone knocks on our door every day, there are indeed people constantly reaching out to us, expressing interest in purchasing shares of Tether.

However, the uniqueness of Tether is that we do not need capital. We are a highly profitable company that can choose the areas where we invest our resources wisely and have built excellent technology.

Providing AI Tools for Users Outside the Traditional Financial System Through QVAC

Paolo Ardoino: Even in the field of artificial intelligence, when people think that the development of the AI industry is complete or that the industry winners have been determined, we still present our story, vision, and technology, which is QVAC.

This indicates that we can still create AI tools that serve about 4 billion people outside the traditional financial system. These individuals may also be overlooked by major AI companies because those who cannot afford bank account fees may also be unable to pay for subscriptions to OpenAI or Anthropic.

But we can develop tools that run on edge devices to serve these users. These tools will serve these people, many of whom are already part of the approximately 650 million USDT users.

These are all very unique aspects of Tether. I hope to wake up every day thinking about this mission rather than having to optimize every penny daily, or else I would have an unhappy shareholder.

Therefore, those who join Tether must be mission-oriented. We do see a lot of investors expressing interest, including some mission-driven investors who want to join us. But we will be very cautious in deciding who to add to the shareholder list.

I believe Tether's most important capability is execution, and we have been so for the past 12 years.

We have not gone public; instead, we decided to remain private. Because once a company goes public, it has to face performance evaluations every three months. Look at our competitors; they have to announce their performance every three months. If their performance is even one cent below expectations, they may face severe market punishment.

Meanwhile, we have developed a lot of excellent technology and brought many new users into the financial ecosystem. Tether is the largest successful case of financial inclusion in human history, bar none. In this sense, there is no second place that can be compared. I need to optimize around this goal.

Whether the company makes one cent more or less does not change my life; it is not important. I want to continue down this path. Therefore, we hope that those who want to join Tether can align with the company's mission; it is that simple.

Tether Intends to Fund Research on Bitcoin Code and Wallet Security

Gareth Jenkinson: I also want to talk about recent events in the bitcoin ecosystem, especially the Coldcard security incident and its serious impact on the industry.

We have seen the emergence of the Bitcoin Red Team. Researchers are using cutting-edge AI models to examine all open-source code of bitcoin to ensure vulnerabilities can be discovered, disclosed, and fixed as quickly as possible.

Is Tether, yourself, or some affiliated companies interested in participating and supporting this work to help strengthen the security of bitcoin, especially against the types of security issues that have arisen in recent weeks?

Paolo Ardoino: First, I think we should all be very grateful for the excellent work that these bitcoin developers have completed in recent weeks. Tether does indeed intend to provide budget support to continue this work.

I believe that the risks posed by quantum computing are currently much lower than those posed by software vulnerabilities. Nowadays, with the help of artificial intelligence, software vulnerabilities may be easier to detect.

As for bitcoin, I am not discussing other altcoins here. In the face of quantum computing risks, bitcoin can always add new post-quantum signature schemes in the future, allowing people to migrate their funds to addresses that adopt the new schemes. Therefore, we know that there is a feasible path to address the risks posed by quantum computing.

But before that, we must ensure that the bitcoin codebase itself, as well as all the tools and wallets that people use daily, are secure and reliable enough. I believe that what happened with Coinkite and Coldcard has made many people aware of the real dangers that exist in this world.

Gareth Jenkinson: The last question still relates to the audit conducted by KPMG U.S. In the future, will Tether undergo such an audit annually? What are the specific plans?

Paolo Ardoino: Yes, we will continue down this path. We plan to undergo a comprehensive financial audit annually while continuing to release quarterly assurance reports. I believe this will set the highest standard of transparency for the entire industry.