Tether finally lands a Big Four auditor – but the $189B USDT question still isn’t answered
Deloitte attested to the reserves of Tether's smaller, US-regulated USAT stablecoin, but not its dominant USDT token.Summary
Tether has achieved a milestone by having Deloitte issue an independent accountant’s report on the reserve attestations for USAT, a small, US dollar token issued by Anchorage Digital Bank in collaboration with Tether. This is significant because it links a Tether-associated product to a Big Four accounting firm within a federally regulated US framework.
However, this development does not resolve the long-standing transparency concerns surrounding USDT, Tether’s flagship and much larger stablecoin, whose reserves have never undergone a full audit by a Big Four firm. The Deloitte review was limited to a point-in-time reserve report for USAT, which had simple reserves of cash and Treasury securities, and did not evaluate compliance or operational effectiveness.
Market attention remains focused on USDT, which is supported by a much larger and more complex reserve portfolio including Treasury bills, reverse repurchase agreements, precious metals, Bitcoin, and secured loans. While Tether continues to promise a full audit for USDT, the current situation presents a two-track reality: a regulated, smaller token with Big Four attestation, and the dominant global stablecoin still relying on periodic assurance snapshots.
(Source：CryptoSlate)