Tether finally lands a Big Four auditor – but the $189B USDT question still isn’t answered
Tether has landed a Big Four accounting firm’s name on a reserve report tied to its US strategy.
On Feb. 27, Deloitte issued an independent accountant’s report on Anchorage Digital Bank’s “USAT Reserve Report,” an attestation covering USAT, a US dollar token issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, National Association, in collaboration with Tether.
The development is notable because Tether has long faced questions about the quality, transparency, and verification of reserves backing its tokens. But the Deloitte work does not cover USDT, Tether’s flagship stablecoin, and the largest dollar-pegged token in the market.
This distinction is central to how the development should be understood.
USAT is a small, federally regulated token issued through an Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)-regulated national trust bank. USDT is the much larger token that serves as core trading infrastructure across crypto exchanges, offshore venues, and dollar-based trading pairs worldwide.
That means the Deloitte-linked milestone gives Tether a recognizable accounting name attached to a regulated US stablecoin product, but it does not resolve the much broader questions surrounding USDT.
What Deloitte reviewed
The Deloitte report is narrower than a full corporate audit, and the language in the filing makes that clear.
According to the document, Deloitte issued an Independent Accountant’s Report on Anchorage Digital Bank’s USAT Reserve Report. The engagement did not seek to determine whether Anchorage complied with federal, state, or local laws or satisfied contractual obligations to customers.
Deloitte also said it did not evaluate the design’s suitability or the operating effectiveness of controls.
In effect, the accounting firm examined a reserve report at a specific point in time rather than the stablecoin business’s full legal, operational, or financial condition.
As of Jan. 31, 2026, Anchorage reported $17.6 million in reserve assets against $17.5 million in USAT redeemable tokens outstanding, resulting in a surplus of $103,325.
The reserve composition was straightforward: $3,654,716 in cash and $13,950,000 in reverse repurchase agreements collateralized by US Treasury securities.
The report said those assets were held in segregated fiduciary trust accounts for the benefit of token holders.
That structure is part of the message Anchorage appears to be sending. The bank has described USAT as a dollar-backed stablecoin for the US market under the post-GENIUS Act framework, with the bank overseeing issuance, reserve management, compliance, and risk controls.
In practical terms, that gives Tether exposure to an onshore, federally supervised stablecoin product with a simpler reserve design than the portfolio behind USDT.
For Tether, that matters politically and commercially. A US-regulated token tied to the company can now point to a report from Deloitte, even if Tether’s main stablecoin still does not have the full audit critics have long demanded.
Why USDT still matters more
Even so, market attention remains centered on USDT because it is the token that matters most for trading, liquidity, and systemic importance in crypto markets.
USDT’s reserves have never been subject to a full audit. That has remained a persistent concern for investors, regulators, and market observers, especially because the token has become deeply embedded in global crypto market plumbing.
It is also the stablecoin most often scrutinized when questions arise about illicit finance, offshore market structure, or the resilience of stablecoin reserves under stress.
Tether’s latest published Financial Figures and Reserves Report, prepared with assurance work under ISAE 3000 Revised by BDO and dated Dec. 31, 2025, showed $192.878 billion in total assets against $186.540 billion in total liabilities, leaving $6.338 billion in equity.
That equity cushion is far larger in nominal terms than the modest surplus reported for USAT. But it is attached to a significantly larger and more complex reserve book.
According to BDO’s report, Tether’s reserves were concentrated in US Treasury bills and reverse repurchase agreements, but they also included $17.45 billion in precious metals, $8.43 billion in Bitcoin, $2.76 billion in other investments, and $17.04 billion in secured loans.
That portfolio differs from the narrow cash-and-Treasurys model policymakers increasingly favor for payment stablecoins.
It also helps explain why a Deloitte examination of USAT should not be mistaken for the full audit Tether has said it wants for USDT.
BDO’s language also highlighted the limitations of its work. The firm said its opinion applied to the report at a single point in time, that the report was prepared for transparency purposes and might not be suitable for other uses, and that asset values assumed normal trading conditions rather than stressed market scenarios.
Those caveats are standard in this kind of assurance work, but they reflect the gap between reserve attestations and a full audit of the stablecoin issuer and its financial position.
A long-running credibility gap
That gap has followed Tether for years.
The company has repeatedly said it wants a full audit of USDT’s reserves and financials, but it has not yet delivered one.
Reuters reported in March 2025 that Chief Executive Paolo Ardoino described a full Big Four audit as a “top priority” and said Tether was in talks with one of the major firms.
Pending the availability of such reports, Tether has continued publishing quarterly reserve reports, which continue to draw investor skepticism.
The USAT development, therefore, matters less as a final answer than as a partial signal. It shows that a Tether-linked product can operate inside a tighter regulatory perimeter, with a simpler reserve mix and a more recognizable accounting brand.
However, it does not settle the credibility debate surrounding USDT because the flagship token is larger, more globally important, and backed by a broader mix of assets.
Useful progress, but not the final test
For Tether, the Deloitte-backed USAT reserve report is still a meaningful development. It links the Tether ecosystem to a federally regulated US token with a plain reserve structure and a Big Four accounting firm.
That gives the company a cleaner response when dealing with US policymakers, institutional counterparties, and corporate clients who want a dollar token inside a clearer supervisory perimeter.
But the main credibility test has not changed. USDT remains the center of gravity for the stablecoin market, and it remains supported by a reserve portfolio that is larger, broader, and harder to fit into the narrowest definition of a payment coin.
Tether also continues to face scrutiny over illicit-finance controls, even as it emphasizes cooperation with law enforcement. Reuters reported that Tether said it had frozen about $4.2 billion in USDT linked to illicit activity, most of it over the last three years.
The result is a two-track reality: a US-regulated token linked to Tether has a Big Four attestation on a reserve report, while USDT, the stablecoin that dominates liquidity in crypto markets, still rests on periodic assurance snapshots and a reserve portfolio that is larger and more complex.
Whether the industry converges on the bank-style model embedded in USAT, or adapts the dominant offshore tokens to meet tightening rules, remains to be seen.
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