Tether, the crypto company behind the most popular stablecoin USDT, said on Tuesday that it has selected a “Big Four” audit firm to conduct its first full audit of financial statements.
“The Big Four firm was selected through a competitive process because the organization already operates to the Big Four audit standard,” said Simon McWilliams, Tether’s chief financial officer. “The audit will be delivered.”
The company has long released regular certifications of the assets backing the value of its USDT stablecoin of $184 billion. A full audit goes further: it requires a detailed review of assets, liabilities, controls and reporting systems.
Tether did not name the company that will complete the audit. The term Big Four is used for the 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 primarily of U.S. Treasury bills, along with smaller allocations to gold, bitcoin and a variety of loans. That combination has drawn scrutiny from critics who question the liquidity and risk profile of some assets, especially during periods of market stress.
