KPMG Signs Off on Tether Gold’s First Big Four Audit
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Tether announced on November 12, 2026 that KPMG US has issued an unqualified opinion on the financial statements of TG Commodities, S.A. de C.V., the entity that issues Tether Gold (XAUT). The engagement covered the year ended December 31, 2025, when the issuer held 520,089.35 fine troy ounces of gold valued at roughly $2.25 billion, according to Crypto.news. It is the token’s first Big Four financial statement audit in the more than five years since XAUT launched in January 2020.
What KPMG examined, and what it did not
The scope went beyond a snapshot of reserves. Tether said the engagement included an examination of the physical bullion behind tokens in circulation, with auditors counting bars one by one and matching serial details to records. An unqualified opinion indicates the audited statements fairly presented the issuer’s financial position under the applicable accounting standards.
The two reports describe the audit slightly differently, and the distinction matters to anyone comparing it with earlier disclosures. Crypto.news frames the KPMG work as a full audit of TG Commodities covering the physical bullion, while PANews emphasises that the outcome confirms XAU₳ is 100% backed by allocated physical gold. Both outlets agree on the headline figure: roughly $2.25 billion in gold at the 2025 year-end cut-off, with PANews putting the precise value at $2.246 billion.
That figure is now well behind the token’s current reserves. Tether’s March 31, 2026 attestation showed about 707,747 ounces, a 36% rise from the end of 2025, and the September 30, 2026 report prepared by BDO placed reserves at 827,417.63 fine troy ounces worth $3.44 billion. Of those, approximately 709,323.66 tokens had been sold and 118,093.97 remained available. Those quarterly attestations offer independent assurance at a given date; the KPMG engagement was an audit of the issuer’s annual accounts.
Why it matters
For token holders, the practical change is the type of assurance available. A reserve attestation tells you what a third party counted on a specific day; an audited set of financial statements also covers the issuer’s books as a whole. Investors weighing tokenized gold against a physically backed fund, or against newer entrants such as Hong Kong’s planned gold token backed by 400-ounce bars, now have one more comparable data point.
The audit also arrives against a long record of questions about Tether’s reserves. In October 2021 the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission ordered the company to pay $41 million after finding it had made misleading statements about USDT being fully backed by dollars; the regulator found sufficient fiat reserves covered circulating USDT on only 27.6% of the days examined in a 26-month window between 2016 and 2018. Those findings concerned USDT and its historical disclosures, not the gold behind XAUT. Tether later appointed KPMG for its first full financial statement audit in March 2026, and Chief Financial Officer Simon McWilliams has said the company intends to extend its audit programme across its businesses.
Market snapshot
Tether Gold (XAUT) traded at $3,852, or ₹362,259, at the 12 November 2026 snapshot, down 3.5% over 24 hours and 5.5% over seven days, with a market capitalisation of $949.6 million and 24-hour volume of $283.4 million, according to CoinPaprika data timestamped 15:18 UTC. USDT, the company’s dollar token, was quoted at $0.9992 (₹93.97) with a market cap of $175.73 billion.
What to watch
The near-term signal is the next audited period: whether KPMG’s opinion for the year ended December 31, 2026 arrives on a comparable timetable, and whether Tether extends the programme to other entities as McWilliams has indicated. Tether’s quarterly BDO attestations, which have risen from 246,523.33 ounces in April 2025 to 827,417.63 ounces at September 30, 2026, will keep showing reserve growth between those audits.
This article is informational only and is not financial advice. Cryptoasset markets are volatile and prices can fall as well as rise; readers should do their own research before making any investment decision.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does an unqualified opinion from KPMG actually mean for XAUT holders?
It means the auditor concluded that TG Commodities’ financial statements fairly presented the issuer’s financial position under the applicable accounting standards, after inspecting and counting the bars against supporting records. It is assurance over the audited statements, not a guarantee of XAUT’s price.
How does this audit differ from the attestations Tether Gold already published?
The BDO attestations, including the September 30, 2026 report placing reserves at 827,417.63 ounces, were point-in-time reserve reports. The KPMG engagement was a full audit of the issuer’s annual financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2025.
Why did Tether Gold take more than five years to get an audited set of accounts?
XAUT launched in January 2020 and did not publish its first product-specific independent reserves attestation until April 2025. Tether appointed KPMG for its first full financial statement audit in March 2026, according to Crypto.news.
Is this the same audit as the one of USDT issuer Tether International?
No. KPMG completed a separate review of Tether International in August 2026, issuing an unqualified opinion on its 2025 accounts. The XAUT engagement covered TG Commodities and included the physical bullion count.
Sources: crypto.news, PANews
