Tether Gold Gets Clean KPMG Audit on $2.246B Gold Backing
KPMG U.S. gave Tether Gold issuer TG Commodities an unqualified opinion on its 2025 statements, counting every bar behind 520,089.350 ounces worth $2.246B. It is Tether's second Big Four audit after USDT, but it covers 2025, not current holdings.
520,089.350 fine troy ounces. $2.246 billion. One clean opinion. KPMG U.S. issued an unqualified audit opinion on TG Commodities, the issuer of Tether Gold (XAUT), covering its financial statements for the year ended Dec. 31, 2025. Tether announced the result on Nov. 12, 2026.
Against that gold, 520,089.300 XAUT were in circulation at year-end. The bullion exceeds the token count by 0.05 ounce. A KPMG spokesperson confirmed the clean opinion, issued under AICPA standards.
Tether says KPMG went beyond custodian confirmations. Auditors physically counted and inspected every gold bar backing XAUT and checked each bar's identifying information. CEO Paolo Ardoino put it plainly:
"KPMG counted every single bar as part of its Tether Gold audit"
Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether
The gold sits in vaults in Switzerland. Each XAUT represents an undivided ownership interest in gold on specified bars, per Tether's announcement.
Second Big Four audit for Tether
XAUT is the second Tether product to clear a Big Four audit. In August, KPMG gave a clean opinion on Tether International, the USDT issuer, which Tether called the largest inaugural audit in history. The XAUT audit lands more than five years after the token launched.
Simon McWilliams framed it as a sequence:
"Our strategy was deliberate: start with the largest and most complex businesses, USDT and XAUT, and set the standard for the industry,"
Simon McWilliams
He added that the milestones "advance the progress towards audits across the whole of Tether."
What the audit does not cover
Scope is narrow. The opinion addresses 2025 financial statements, not current holdings. An unqualified opinion covers financial reporting. It certifies no future reserve balance.
Current holdings are much larger. A separate BDO reserve report shows 827,417.630 fine troy ounces as of Sept. 30, 2026, valued at $3.44B, up 59% from year-end 2025. BDO gave reasonable assurance under ISAE 3000, a different standard from KPMG's annual financial-statement audit.
Tether also still publishes quarterly USDT attestations, point-in-time snapshots rather than full audits. The latest, prepared by BDO to Sept. 30, showed $191.5B in reserve assets against $183.5B in liabilities, a buffer of almost $8B, plus $1.5B in Q3 net operating profit.
Context
Tether has long drawn criticism for leaning on attestations. Two clean KPMG opinions, one on the USDT issuer and now one on XAUT, answer part of that. Audits of Tether's other businesses are still pending. Scrutiny also extends beyond auditors: Sen. Blumenthal has given Tether and others until Jan. 4, 2027 to voluntarily produce records.
