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Tether, the stablecoin issuer, says it has engaged a Big Four accounting firm for its inaugural audit. In a news release dated Tuesday, March 25, the company said its first full independent financial statement audit is slated to be the biggest ever inaugural audit in the history of financial markets.
Tether’s USDT coin has a market capitalization of a little more than $184 billion, making it the largest stablecoin. Tether did not specify which of the Big Four firms—Deloitte, EY, KPMG or PwC—will conduct the audit.
Tether said a full audit by a Big Four firm is among the most rigorous and globally recognized forms of financial assessment. The company described the engagement as underscoring its commitment to providing “deep assurance” that USDT is fully backed, highly liquid, and operated with world-class risk management.
While attestations are currently standard practice among stablecoin issuers, Tether said it is moving beyond that benchmark to submit to a full audit.
The release contrasted a full audit with attestations, noting that an attestation validates management’s assertion against stated criteria at a point in time. It said attestations do not test enterprise-wide internal controls or assess ongoing liquidity management.
Tether previously released an attestation for USDT last month, issued by a regulated bank and reviewed by Deloitte.
Tether said its engagement onboarding process drew attention from several auditing firms, citing its scale and role in the digital asset space. Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s chief executive, said the audit represents “years of work” to strengthen Tether’s systems so it can meet the highest standards applied in global finance.
Tether said the audit is intended to provide accountability, resilience and confidence for the hundreds of millions of people and businesses that rely on USDT every day.
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