Stablecoin Issuer Tether Says Audit of Reserves is 'Top Priority'

The company has said for years that it will release a full financial audit, but it has so far released only quarterly reports on its reserves

Stablecoin issuer Tether is reportedly talking with one of the Big Four accounting firms about doing an audit of its reserves.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said an audit is "our top priority," but did not specify which accounting firm the company is talking with or when the audit would be conducted, Reuters reported Friday (March 21).

The company has said for years that it will release a full financial audit, but it has so far released only quarterly reports on its reserves compiled by accounting firm BDO Italia, according to the report.

Tether has issued more than $140 billion worth of its dollar-pegged stablecoin and says it holds dollar-denominated reserves for every token it creates, the report said.

Ardoino said getting an audit of Tether's reserves will be easier under President Donald Trump, who has pledged to be a "crypto president."

"If the President of the United States says this is a top priority for the U.S., Big Four auditing firms will have to listen, so we are very happy with that," Ardoino said.

Tether's latest attestation report, which was conducted by BDO, said that as of Dec. 31, the reserves for Tether tokens in circulation amounted to about $143.7 billion and the value of assets composing the reserves exceeded the value of the liabilities of the companies issuing Tether tokens by about $7.1 billion.

The company said in a March 3 press release that it appointed a new chief financial officer, Simon McWilliams, as part of its "firm commitment" to completing a full audit and expanding across the institutional financial system.

"Simon's expertise in financial audits makes him the perfect CFO to lead Tether into this new era of transparency," Ardoino said in the statement. "With his leadership, we are moving decisively toward a full audit, reinforcing our role in supporting U.S. financial strength and expanding institutional engagement."

It was reported in January that Tether is one of the stablecoin issuers that will be boosted by Trump's executive order on digital assets issued Jan. 23. The order aligned stablecoins with the government's efforts to maintain the global supremacy of the dollar and blocked a potential competitor to stablecoins by barring development of a central bank digital currency.