Tether, the crypto company behind the most popular stablecoin USDT, announced Tuesday that it has selected a “Big Four” to conduct its first comprehensive financial statement audit.
“The Big Four firm was selected through a competitive process because the organization already operates under Big Four auditing standards,” said Simon McWilliams, Tether’s CFO. “The audit will be delivered.”
The company has long published periodic attestations of the assets supporting the value of its $184 billion USDT stablecoin. A comprehensive audit goes further: it requires a detailed examination of assets, liabilities, controls and reporting systems.
Tether has not named the firm that will carry out the audit. The term Big Four is used to refer to major accounting firms Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC.
The move follows years of criticism over whether Tether has fully demonstrated that USDT is fully backed by reserves. The company says its holdings consist largely of U.S. Treasuries, as well as small allocations to gold, bitcoin and a range of loans. This combination has attracted the attention of critics who question the liquidity and risk profile of certain assets, particularly during times of market stress.
