Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin company, announced on Tuesday that it has signed a Big Four accounting firm to complete its first full audit. The move stands to give the company, which has long faced criticism over its lack of transparency, a stamp of legitimacy.
In a statement, Tether announced that the audit will review Tether’s assets, liabilities, and reserves and be conducted by one of the Big Four—a term that describes Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC—but did not specify which one. Five years ago, Tether was fined $41 million for falsely claiming that its stablecoins were fully backed by fiat currencies.
The announcement comes two months after the company launched USAT, a stablecoin designed to be compliant with U.S. regulations. Tether’s return to the U.S. further cemented its dominance in the stablecoin industry, where it currently owns about 60% of market share. Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency pegged to a stable asset like the U.S. dollar.
“The Big Four Firm was selected through a competitive process because the organization is already operating at Big Four audit standard; the audit will be delivered,” said Simon McWilliams, chief financial officer of Tether, in the statement.
Prior to President Donald Trump’s second term, Tether had several run-ins with regulators. In 2021, the company reached a settlement with the New York attorney general’s office after it allegedly covered up roughly $850 million in losses. Three years later, in 2024, the Department of Justice reportedly investigated the company for violations of anti-money-laundering and sanctions rules. That same year, blockchain analytics company TRM Labs found that Tether’s network had been used to finance terrorism.
Since Trump took office last January, the stablecoin giant, along with other major crypto companies, has benefited from more lenient regulation out of Washington. The connections between the president and Tether are not hard to find. Howard Lutnick, Trump’s commerce secretary, is the former CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, which is the company that manages the reserves of USAT. And the president’s former top crypto official, Bo Hines, is now the CEO of Tether’s U.S. operations
“Tether’s mission has always been to build trust through action, not promises,” said Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s CEO, about the audit in the statement. “Trust is built when institutions are willing to open themselves fully to scrutiny.”
