Author|The Block

Translation| Wu Says Blockchain

On August 14, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino discussed in detail during an interview with The Starting Block about the comprehensive independent audit completed by one of the Big Four accounting firms, KPMG U.S. This audit covers the financial statements of Tether International, S.A. de C.V. for the year ending December 31, 2025. Ardoino stated that Tether’s balance sheet is not complex, and the delay in completing the comprehensive audit was mainly related to the previous U.S. government's hostile attitude toward the digital asset industry. In the future, Tether plans to undergo a comprehensive financial audit every year while continuing to issue quarterly assurance reports.

In addition, Ardoino also responded to questions surrounding Tether's reserves, equity transparency, and private financing. He said that Tether does not need external capital, but there is significant interest in its shares from the market, and the company will cautiously choose potential shareholders aligned with its mission. He also revealed that Tether has accumulated about 150 tons of gold and over 100,000 bitcoins and intends to provide budget support for the work of reviewing bitcoin code and wallet security using artificial intelligence.

The views expressed by guests do not represent Wu Says and do not constitute any investment advice. Please strictly adhere to local laws and regulations. Audio transcription and translation are completed by GPT and may contain errors.

Why Has Tether Only Now Completed Its Comprehensive Financial Audit?

Gareth Jenkinson: Welcome back to The Starting Block. In this episode, we are interviewing Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino online. In the past 24 hours, Tether announced that it has obtained a formal audit from a Big Four accounting firm, which is something critics have demanded for years. We invited Paolo to elaborate on this audit. First, I'm glad to have you back on the show. How are you feeling right now?

Paolo Ardoino: Thank you very much, Gareth. This is undoubtedly a very important day for Tether and for me personally. Tether was established in 2014, and we have worked very hard over the years to build an outstanding technology. Now, traditional financial institutions are beginning to pay attention to this technology.

Having the Big Four accounting firms complete the comprehensive financial audit we previously promised is like the final cherry on this beautiful cake. I can’t express how excited the whole team is; everyone is thrilled. It feels very good.

Gareth Jenkinson: I entered this industry in 2017, and I certainly don’t have as much experience as you. I remember that in the first couple of years, Tether was heavily criticized for not undergoing an audit for an extended period. Can you talk about why it was so difficult to complete the audit in the past? What efforts did you put in to finally accomplish this?

Paolo Ardoino: First, I want to clarify that the entity being audited is Tether International, S.A. de C.V., the issuer of USDT. Technically, auditing this entity is quite simple because there are only a few types of assets on our balance sheet. Therefore, I believe the operational complexity of conducting this kind of audit is not high.

We maintain a very comprehensive record-keeping process, management is very strict, and we have a strong aversion to risk. You should remember the events in the digital asset industry in 2022 and 2023. Our main competitors were on the brink of crisis due to risks faced by some banks, but Tether has navigated these very difficult periods successfully each time.

However, the situation is different when the most powerful country in the world, the United States, has a government hostile to the industry, as the last U.S. government was. Especially when people like Elizabeth Warren publicly criticized Tether, even suggesting that audit firms should steer clear of us. This created a degree of uncertainty for the accounting firms.

The current U.S. government has explicitly stated that digital assets are crucial for the future of both the U.S. and the world. This is an outstanding technology and a field in which the U.S. hopes to gain a leading edge. Therefore, we immediately re-engaged with several Big Four accounting firms and ultimately decided to contract KPMG U.S.

Tether Chooses KPMG U.S. for the Most Rigorous Scrutiny Possible

Paolo Ardoino: Interestingly, even when we chose the non-U.S. accounting firm BDO to issue the assurance report in the past, it sparked controversy. So, we decided to partner with KPMG U.S. to subject ourselves to the most rigorous scrutiny possible.

Throughout the entire process, we demonstrated our capabilities and proved that we could handle such scrutiny. The whole team was fully oriented toward completing this task. I have repeatedly stated that a comprehensive audit would be our highest priority. I am very grateful for the change in the U.S. government’s attitude, which enabled these accounting firms to return to the negotiating table.

For a company like Tether, the balance sheet itself is not complex. On one side, liabilities are the tokens that have been issued, and on the other side are all reserves backing these tokens. According to the assurance data as of December 31, 2025, we have over $6 billion in remaining equity, confirmed by the auditing firm.

These facts are very important. In the future, we will undergo a comprehensive financial audit every year while continuing to publish quarterly assurance reports. I believe this represents the highest level of transparency attainable in this industry.

Ardoino: Tether Redeemed About $7 Billion in 48 Hours

Gareth Jenkinson: Over the years, I have found this matter quite interesting. One of the major criticisms of Tether from the outside has been about how we know Tether has not minted a substantial amount of USDT without collateral assets. This is also why the market believes audits are very necessary.

However, even in the past 24 hours, I've still seen a lot of criticism. For example, some believe Tether should further disclose its equity structure and the details of participants. Now that you have completed the audit by the Big Four accounting firms, how do you perceive the ongoing atmosphere of criticism?

Paolo Ardoino: Today, I responded to an account I hadn't engaged with for quite some time, Bitfinex’ed. When I was a child, I used to watch “Happy Days” on Italian television. This show was popular worldwide, and Italy aired it. The character Fonzie always struggled to say "I was wrong," and whenever he tried to admit he was wrong, he would stammer.

I feel like many people have the same problem. This is a fundamental issue: many people cannot admit they are wrong, so they must constantly find new excuses. Ultimately, it is their own problem. If a person cannot admit mistakes, they can never truly grow. Frankly, I don’t care.

We have proven ourselves multiple times. We have completed larger concentrated redemptions than any financial institution in history, whether in a day, 24 hours, or 48 hours.

In 2022, we redeemed about $7 billion in 48 hours, which at that time accounted for about 10% of our reserves. Any financial institution or bank that faces a redemption of 10% or more in a short period will face a crisis. This performance is very unique for Tether.

To be honest, I am willing to stay vigilant and accept criticism, because criticism can make us better and stronger, and it gives us the determination, strength, and motivation to wake up every day wanting to prove that all the critics are wrong. That feels great.

In a way, I even like being seen by some as the "villain," because that way we can be the heroes in the eyes of 650 million users who have not been served by the entire financial industry. I can face myself openly. Every morning I wake up thinking we are doing a good thing; I am doing the right thing; my team is doing the right thing.

Therefore, no criticism can discourage us, nor can it force us off our path and mission.

The Audit Firm Counts Every Bar of Gold in Tether's Reserves

Gareth Jenkinson: There's another interesting detail about this audit. It is said that you had the auditors count every single bar of gold in the reserves. It sounds a bit humorous, like a joke, but is that really the case?

Paolo Ardoino: Our goal is to eliminate all potential doubts, except of course for those silly doubts.

There’s a great saying in the Bitcoin space: “Don’t trust, verify.” I believe gold is a very good tool. Over the past few years, Tether has accumulated about 150 tons of gold and also holds a considerable amount of bitcoins, exceeding 100,000 pieces.

Verifying bitcoin is relatively easy because you can prove you own a certain bitcoin address. But verifying gold requires manual operation. To confirm that the gold exists and that the information about the bars is accurate, auditors must be skilled at moving heavy objects and need to have decent muscles.

However, this work is necessary and correct. We take great pride in this because it reaffirms that we have nothing to hide. As I said, quite literally and metaphorically, we have not left any stone unturned.

Tether Doesn’t Need Capital, but There is Enormous Interest in Its Shares

Gareth Jenkinson: There have been media reports that Tether is conducting a round of private equity financing. Has this plan been shelved? Can you disclose more details? Is Tether still considering fundraising?

Paolo Ardoino: If you pay attention, you will see that we have never officially announced anything. Some media concocted the entire narrative, they posed questions themselves and then answered them, which is quite amusing.

We do not generally comment on such matters, but there is indeed enormous interest in Tether shares from the market. The number of bitcoins is only 21 million, and Tether's shares are also very scarce; we currently have only a few shareholders. This is great, and I enjoy this situation.

We continue to receive significant attention. Although not everyone knocks on our door every day, there are indeed people continuously reaching out to us, expressing their interest in buying shares of Tether.

However, Tether's uniqueness lies in the fact that we do not need capital. We are a highly profitable company capable of choosing well where to invest our resources, and we have built excellent technology.

Providing AI Tools for Users Beyond the Traditional Financial System through QVAC

Paolo Ardoino: Even in the field of artificial intelligence, when people think the development of the AI industry is complete, or that the industry winners are already determined, we still present our story, vision, and technology, which is QVAC.

This shows that we can still build AI tools for about 4 billion people outside the traditional financial system. These people might also be overlooked by major AI companies, as those who cannot afford bank account fees might also be unable to pay for subscriptions to OpenAI or Anthropic.

But we can develop tools that run on edge devices to serve these users. These tools will serve these individuals, and many of them already belong to the current approximately 650 million USDT users.

These are all very unique aspects of Tether. I hope I wake up every day thinking about this mission rather than focusing each day on optimizing every penny, otherwise, I would end up with another dissatisfied shareholder.

Therefore, those who join Tether must be mission-oriented. We do indeed see many investors expressing interest, including some mission-oriented investors who wish to join us. But we will be very cautious in deciding who to add to the shareholder list.

I believe the most important capability of Tether is its execution, which we have demonstrated consistently over the past 12 years.

We are not publicly listed, but have chosen to remain private. Because once a company goes public, it faces performance assessments every three months. Look at our competitors; they must publish results every three months. If their performance is even a penny below expectations, they can face severe market punishment.

Meanwhile, we have developed a lot of excellent technology and brought many new users into the financial ecosystem. Tether is the largest success story of financial inclusion in human history, period. In this sense, there is no second place that can be compared with it. I need to optimize around this goal.

Whether the company earns a penny more or less does not change my life; it is not important. I want to continue down this path. Therefore, we hope those joining Tether are in agreement with the company's mission, and that’s simply how it is.

Tether Intends to Fund Research on Bitcoin Code and Wallet Security

Gareth Jenkinson: I also want to discuss recent developments in the Bitcoin ecosystem, especially the Coldcard security incident and its severe impact on the industry.

We have seen the Bitcoin Red Team emerge. Researchers are using cutting-edge AI models to examine all of Bitcoin’s open-source code to ensure vulnerabilities can be discovered, disclosed, and fixed as quickly as possible.

Does Tether, you personally, or any associated companies have an interest in participating and supporting this work to help strengthen Bitcoin's security, particularly against the security issues that have arisen in recent weeks?

Paolo Ardoino: First, I think we should all be very grateful for the excellent work completed by these Bitcoin developers in recent weeks. Tether does indeed intend to provide a budget to support this work going forward.

I believe that, compared to software vulnerabilities, the risk posed by quantum computing is currently much lower. Today, with the help of artificial intelligence, software vulnerabilities may be detected more easily.

Regarding Bitcoin, I am not discussing other altcoins here. In the face of quantum computing risks, Bitcoin can always add new anti-quantum signature schemes in the future, allowing people to migrate their funds to addresses that adopt the new scheme. Therefore, we know there is a viable path to address quantum computing risks.

But before that, we must ensure that Bitcoin’s codebase itself and all the tools and wallets that people use daily are secure and reliable enough. I think what happened with Coinkite and Coldcard made many people realize the real dangers that exist in this world.

Gareth Jenkinson: The final question still concerns the audit conducted by KPMG U.S. In the future, will Tether undergo such an audit every year? What are the specific plans?

Paolo Ardoino: Yes, we will continue along this path. We plan to undergo a comprehensive financial audit every year while continuing to publish quarterly assurance reports. I believe this will set the highest standard of transparency for the entire industry.

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