Tether Gold has completed its first Big Four financial audit, marking a major step in the company’s effort to strengthen transparency around the gold reserves backing its XAUT token.
KPMG U.S. issued an unqualified opinion on the 2025 financial statements of TG Commodities, the entity responsible for issuing Tether Gold.
The audit covered approximately $2.25 billion worth of physical gold reserves and included direct inspection and counting of the bullion held to support tokens in circulation.
The milestone comes more than five years after XAUT launched and follows a period in which the product relied primarily on limited reserve disclosures and later quarterly attestations rather than full annual financial statement audits.
KPMG audits Tether Gold’s 2025 financial statements
According to Tether’s November 12 announcement, KPMG examined TG Commodities for the financial year ended December 31, 2025.
At that point, Tether Gold held approximately 520,089.35 fine troy ounces of gold.
The reserves were valued at roughly $2.25 billion.
KPMG issued an unqualified opinion, meaning the auditor concluded that the financial statements fairly presented the issuer’s financial position under the applicable accounting standards.
Auditors physically inspected the gold bars
One of the most significant parts of the audit was the physical verification of the bullion backing XAUT.
Tether said KPMG inspected and counted individual gold bars.
Auditors also checked identifying details on those bars against supporting records.
That goes beyond simply reviewing electronic account balances or relying on management representations.
For a token backed by physical commodities, direct verification of the underlying assets is particularly important.
What does an unqualified audit opinion mean?
An unqualified opinion is generally considered the cleanest form of audit conclusion.
It means the auditor did not identify material problems preventing the financial statements from being presented fairly under the relevant accounting framework.
It does not mean the business is risk-free.
It also does not guarantee that every future reserve figure will remain unchanged.
What it does provide is a higher level of independent assurance over the audited period than a simple reserve attestation.
Tether Gold is now Tether’s second Big Four-audited product
Tether Gold is the second Tether-related stablecoin business to receive a Big Four audit.
KPMG previously completed a separate audit of Tether International’s 2025 financial statements in August.
That earlier engagement covered the issuer associated with USDT.
With both audits now completed, Tether is expanding its use of full financial statement audits across different parts of its business.
XAUT launched in January 2020
Tether Gold launched in January 2020.
Each XAUT token represents ownership linked to one fine troy ounce of physical gold stored in Switzerland.
The product is designed to give crypto investors exposure to gold while allowing the asset to move through blockchain-based infrastructure.
Unlike a dollar-backed stablecoin, XAUT is tied to the value of physical bullion rather than a fiat currency.
Full audit comes after years of limited independent reporting
Despite operating since 2020, Tether Gold did not publish a product-specific independent reserve attestation until April 2025.
That first report showed approximately 246,523.33 ounces of gold backing the token.
The amount was equivalent to more than 7.7 metric tons.
The attestation provided independent assurance over the reserve position at a particular date.
But it was not the same as a full audit of the issuer’s annual financial statements.
Attestation and audit are not the same thing
This distinction matters.
A reserve attestation generally verifies a specific set of balances or representations at a certain point in time.
A financial statement audit examines a much broader set of information.
That can include:
- Asset ownership
- Liabilities
- Transactions
- Valuations
- Counterparties
- Internal records
- Financial statement presentation
A full audit therefore provides a wider view of the issuer’s financial position.
Tether Gold reserves grew sharply after the first attestation
Demand for tokenized gold increased significantly after the first XAUT-specific attestation.
By March 31, 2026, Tether Gold reserves had risen to approximately 707,747 ounces.
That represented roughly a 36% increase from the end of 2025.
The corresponding market value exceeded $3.3 billion.
The expansion reflects both additional gold backing and movements in the price of gold.
September reserves reached $3.44 billion
The latest available reserve report, prepared by BDO for September 30, 2026, showed approximately 827,417.63 fine troy ounces of gold.
Those reserves were valued at about $3.44 billion.
That represents a substantial increase from the position covered by KPMG’s year-end 2025 audit.
The September report also provided additional information on the number of XAUT tokens minted and sold.
Not all minted XAUT had been sold
According to the September attestation, approximately 827,417.63 XAUT had been minted.
Of that total, around 709,323.66 tokens had been sold.
The remaining approximately 118,093.97 tokens were available for sale.
That distinction is important because minted supply and circulating sold supply are not necessarily the same.
Reserve reporting needs to account for how each category is treated.
The audit does not cover September 2026 reserves
The KPMG audit covered the financial year ending December 31, 2025.
The later September 2026 reserve figures come from a separate BDO attestation.
These should not be mixed together.
The audit provides assurance over the 2025 financial statements.
The later attestation provides a more current snapshot of reserves.
Together, they show both historical assurance and more recent reserve growth.
Tether has faced years of scrutiny over reserve disclosures
The move toward Big Four audits comes after a long period of questions about Tether’s reserve reporting.
Most of that scrutiny has focused on USDT rather than XAUT.
Tether’s historical claims about USDT backing attracted regulatory attention in the United States.
That history is relevant because it helps explain why independent assurance has become increasingly important for the company.
CFTC settled with Tether for $41 million in 2021
In October 2021, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission ordered Tether to pay $41 million.
The regulator found that the company had made misleading statements about whether USDT was fully backed by U.S. dollars.
According to the CFTC, Tether held enough fiat reserves to cover circulating USDT on only 27.6% of the days examined during a 26-month period between 2016 and 2018.
Those findings related to historical USDT backing claims.
They did not concern Tether Gold.
XAUT and USDT have different reserve models
USDT is designed to maintain a value close to the U.S. dollar.
Its reserves can include different financial assets, depending on the issuer’s reserve structure.
XAUT is different.
Its backing is physical gold.
Each token is linked to a specified quantity of bullion.
That means the central transparency question is whether the required physical gold exists, is properly owned, and matches the tokens issued.
Physical inspection adds another layer of assurance
For a gold-backed token, a physical count is particularly relevant.
Electronic records can state that bullion exists.
A physical inspection allows auditors to compare those records with actual bars.
Serial numbers and identifying information can be checked against custody documentation.
This gives investors more confidence that the reported assets correspond to physical inventory.
Tether expanded reserve reporting after earlier controversies
Following regulatory scrutiny, Tether gradually increased the amount of financial information it published.
The company began releasing regular reserve attestations through accounting firm BDO.
These reports provided more frequent information about assets and liabilities.
However, Tether had not historically published full audited financial statements across all of its major businesses.
That began changing in 2026.
Tether appointed KPMG for full audits
In March 2026, Tether appointed KPMG to conduct a full audit of Tether International.
PwC was also reportedly engaged to help prepare internal systems for the process.
That marked a significant change from the company’s previous reliance on attestations.
The move suggested that Tether was preparing to provide a higher level of financial assurance.
KPMG completed Tether International audit in August
KPMG completed the audit of Tether International’s 2025 financial statements in August.
The firm issued an unqualified opinion.
Tether reported that its reserves exceeded liabilities associated with issued tokens by approximately $6.814 billion at year-end.
The engagement examined a much wider range of records than a reserve attestation.
USDT audit included broader financial testing
The Tether International audit reportedly covered areas including:
- Transactions
- Asset ownership
- Valuations
- Counterparties
- Supporting financial records
That is one reason a financial audit carries greater weight than a simple point-in-time attestation.
The same broader auditing approach is now being extended to Tether Gold.
Tether plans to expand the audit program
Tether Chief Financial Officer Simon McWilliams said the company intends to continue extending its audit program across its businesses.
That suggests the KPMG engagements may not be isolated events.
More Tether subsidiaries or products could eventually receive similar financial statement audits.
For investors, continued consistency will matter as much as the first audit.
Why this matters for tokenized gold
Tokenized gold has become an increasingly important part of the digital asset market.
The product combines two different systems.
The underlying asset is a traditional commodity.
The ownership representation is blockchain-based.
That creates several trust questions.
Investors need confidence that the physical gold exists and that the token accurately represents a claim on that gold.
Independent audits can help address those concerns.
Tokenized gold still depends on an issuer
Owning XAUT is not the same as holding a gold bar directly.
Users rely on the issuer and its custody arrangements.
That means they need confidence in:
- Asset ownership
- Custody
- Redemption rules
- Token issuance
- Reserve reporting
- Operational controls
Blockchain transparency can show token movements, but it cannot by itself prove that the physical bullion exists in the required quantity.
Audits connect blockchain supply to real-world assets
This is one of the central challenges in real-world asset tokenization.
A blockchain can show exactly how many tokens exist.
It cannot independently verify a warehouse, bank account, or vault.
That verification must come from offchain processes.
For XAUT, the audit helps connect the digital token supply with the physical gold stored outside the blockchain.
Gold prices also affect XAUT reserve value
The dollar value of Tether Gold reserves can rise even if the number of ounces remains unchanged.
That happens when gold prices increase.
Likewise, the reserve value can fall if gold becomes cheaper.
This is why both the physical quantity and dollar valuation should be reported.
The number of ounces establishes the underlying inventory.
The dollar figure reflects market pricing at a particular time.
Growing XAUT supply suggests stronger demand
The increase from roughly 520,089 ounces at the end of 2025 to more than 827,000 ounces by September 2026 indicates substantial expansion in the product.
More gold had to be held to support the larger token supply.
That suggests increased demand for blockchain-based gold exposure.
The growth also raises the importance of reliable reserve verification.
Institutional investors may care more about audit quality
Retail users may focus primarily on whether XAUT tracks gold prices.
Institutions often need more detailed assurance.
They may require audited financial statements, verified ownership, independent controls, and clear legal structures before using a tokenized asset.
A Big Four audit could therefore strengthen XAUT’s credibility with larger investors.
Audit quality does not eliminate issuer risk
An unqualified audit opinion improves transparency.
It does not remove every risk.
Investors still depend on:
- Custodians
- Legal enforceability
- Operational controls
- Redemption procedures
- Technology
- Regulatory treatment
An audit confirms financial information under a defined scope and period.
It is not a guarantee against future operational or market problems.
More frequent reporting will still matter
The annual audit provides a strong historical review.
But XAUT reserves can change significantly during the year.
Quarterly attestations therefore remain useful.
They provide more current information between annual audits.
The strongest transparency framework would combine both.
Annual audits and quarterly attestations serve different purposes
A full annual audit examines financial statements in depth.
Quarterly attestations offer more frequent reserve snapshots.
Together, they can give investors:
- Deep annual assurance
- More current interim information
- Reserve growth trends
- Token supply updates
Neither completely replaces the other.
What investors should watch next
Several developments will show whether Tether’s transparency push continues.
Future annual audits:
Investors will want to see whether Big Four audits become a recurring process.
Quarterly reserve reports:
These will show how quickly XAUT supply and bullion holdings continue growing.
Redemption activity:
Large-scale redemptions would test how efficiently token holders can convert claims.
Custody disclosures:
More detail on physical storage arrangements could improve transparency further.
Audit coverage:
Expanding the audit program to additional Tether entities would show how broadly the company is adopting the new standard.
Final thoughts
Tether Gold’s first Big Four audit is a significant transparency milestone for a product that operated for more than five years before publishing a dedicated independent reserve attestation.
KPMG reviewed TG Commodities’ 2025 financial statements and issued an unqualified opinion.
The audit covered approximately 520,089 fine troy ounces of gold worth around $2.25 billion at year-end and included physical inspection of the bullion.
Since then, XAUT reserves have continued to grow, reaching more than 827,000 ounces valued at approximately $3.44 billion by September 2026.
The audit does not erase Tether’s earlier reserve controversies, most of which involved USDT rather than XAUT.
But it does mark a shift toward a stronger form of financial assurance.
The next test will be whether Tether turns Big Four auditing into a consistent, recurring practice across its products rather than treating the current engagements as one-time milestones.
