Guarantee sources and self-inspection methods for stablecoins

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Reserve Support and Self-Inspection Methods for stablecoins

According to stablecoins insiders, when the issuer holds assets equal to or greater than the number of tokens in circulation and allows the holder to redeem tokens at this value, the stablecoin is supported by reserves. Whether readers can trust this statement depends on the specific type of document cited-whether it is a certificate, a full audit report, or a chain stored certificate data stream-because each document verifies different content, and no one can verify everything.

Three different documents, three different statements

A certificate is a narrow scope, based on a specific point in time. According to Spark Money, a certified public accounting firm reviews evidence against a specific statement (usually a reserve asset equals or exceeds the number of tokens in circulation on a specific date) and issues a report based on the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants 'AT-C 205 standard. It confirms a snapshot. According to BitGo, it cannot account for reserve management one day after another.

A comprehensive financial statement audit has a broader scope. According to Spark Money and BitGo, the audit followed U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS) or U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) standards, reviewed transactions, internal controls, counterparty risk and contingent legal matters for a full year, and expressed an opinion on whether the full set of financial statements were fairly presented. Both Spark Money and stablecoin insiders pointed out that as of 2026, no large stablecoin issuer has completed and issued such audit reports.

The proof of on-chain reserves is the third level. According to Chainlink's own description of the mechanism, decentralized oracle networks such as Chainlink will continue to report offline balances to the blockchain so that smart contracts can automatically check mortgages. This provides continuous visibility into assets. But it does not show liabilities, and stablecoin insiders clearly point out the gap: A dashboard proving the existence of reserves does not tell whether those assets have been mortgaged elsewhere.

Example: Tether's 2026 audit statement

Tether stated in a CoinDesk report (whose URL shows a date of August 13, 2026) that it had completed its first comprehensive financial audit and KPMG US issued what CoinDesk called an unqualified opinion on Tether International's financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2025. This opinion means that KPMG believes that these statements fairly present Tether's financial position, operating results and cash flows in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Tether said the report showed that as of the end of 2025, reserve assets exceeded liabilities by US$6.814 billion. CoinDesk reported that KPMG even inspected Tether's gold bars on site.

According to CoinDesk, a spokesperson for KPMG USA confirmed the issuance of the opinion but declined to comment further, citing customer confidentiality. Crypto Reporter reported that Tether has not yet released the relevant audit report, and the public can only see a summary of its conclusions and a reserve data that Tether chose to disclose, rather than the complete report that KPMG actually tested. "Over the years, some critics have argued that Tether's audit cannot be completed," Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in a statement reprinted by CoinDesk. Tether also separately described the audit as "the largest first-ever financial audit in history," Crypto Reporter reported.

This audit coexists with, rather than replaces, Tether's ongoing quarterly certification. Quarterly certificates are implemented by BDO Italia in accordance with the international ISAE 3000 standard, rather than the AT-C 205 standard used by USDC and Paxos. A review of certificates for the fourth quarter of 2025 by stablecoin insiders showed that total reserve assets were close to US$193 billion, while USDT liquidity was approximately US$186 billion, of which approximately US$141 billion was direct or indirect exposure to U.S. Treasury bonds, accounting for approximately 82% of reserves. Spark Money cited the latest certificate data mentioned in its June 14, 2026 report, setting USDT in circulation at approximately US$185 billion and described the reserve composition as roughly: approximately 80% of treasury bills, plus approximately US$8 billion in gold, approximately US$7 billion in Bitcoin, and excess reserve buffers that have fluctuated between approximately US$6 billion and US$8 billion in recent quarters. In the same report, CoinDesk gave USDT a market value of $180 billion. In its updated guidance on July 15, 2026, Crypto University set USDT circulation at approximately US$184 billion. These four figures ($180 billion,$184 billion,$185 billion, and $186 billion) are not from the same date and are not unified on this page.

Comparison of information disclosures by issuers

The data in the above table are based on independent reviews by Spark Money and stablecoin insiders as of mid-2026. According to Spark Money, Circle's USDC reserves were approximately US$77.6 billion at the beginning of 2026; according to stablecoin insiders, they were approximately US$80 billion in the first quarter of 2026; and Crypto University gave USDC circulation of approximately US$73 billion in its updated guidance on July 15, 2026. Circle publishes CUSIP-level treasury bond positions through the BlackRock Fund page every day, a level of detail that neither Tether nor Paxos has achieved. Paxos moved from a New York State Trust License to a National Trust Bank regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in December 2025, a shift Spark Money said legally required its reserves to be limited to cash and short-term treasury bonds held in bankruptcy segregated, separate accounts; its certificate history dates back to 2018.

Why have these differences become important before?

Tether's transparency practices are influenced by its regulatory history. According to Crypto Reporter, the company began issuing quarterly certificates after reaching a settlement with the New York Attorney General in February 2021;Spark Money separately stated that the settlement amount was $18.5 million. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has separately fined Tether, with Spark Money reporting that the fine was US$41 million for accusing it of making "false or misleading statements" about reserves and finding that in the 26 months between 2016 and 2018, the USDT was fully backed by reserves only 27.6% of the time. Crypto Reporter also cited Bloomberg reports that Tether and its sister exchange Bitfinex agreed to pay a $42.5 million fine for reserve disclosures later in 2021; this figure and Spark Money's $41 million figure are not consistent in existing evidence on this page. Crypto Reporter also reported that Tether had tried to raise as much as US$20 billion at a US$500 billion valuation, but some potential investors were reportedly reluctant to commit to investment due to a lack of independent audits.

Self-check the reserve support of stablecoins

Crypto University's Practical Guide (updated July 15, 2026) recommends: First check the issuer's transparency page for the relevant token, then check the deviation of the transaction price from the US$1 anchored exchange rate on the aggregation platform, and then read the certificate or audit report, paying attention to the executor, the criteria based on and the deadline. For crypto-collateralized tokens (such as DAI, which is backed by the Maker/Sky protocol with on-chain collateral, and stablecoin insiders say they are usually over-collateralized by 110% to 200%), the corresponding inspection tool is a blockchain browser or protocol dashboard, rather than an accountant's report. Insiders of stablecoins believe that the strongest combination available in 2026 is a combination of three: on-chain supply data, frequent certificates and regular comprehensive audits-because each method can fill the gaps left by other methods, but none of them alone is enough to solve the problem.

What is not disclosed on this page

This page cannot show the actual findings of KPMG's audit of Tether, except for the single data Tether chose to disclose (US$6.814 billion in excess reserves) and the fact that there was an unqualified opinion. According to Crypto Reporter, the audit report has not yet been made public, so readers cannot independently verify the specific projects KPMG has tested. The above-mentioned date of August 13, 2026 is inferred based on the URL of the CoinDesk article. It is not the release date clearly marked in the article body. The article body only states that it was published "2 days ago" and has been updated.

The above-mentioned USDT circulation and reserve data come from data given by four different media on four different dates in 2026-US$180 billion, US$184 billion, US$185 billion and US$186 billion-and this page does not attempt to unify them into a single number; If readers check Tether's own transparency page, they will see the current value, which is different from all four figures above.

Regarding the status of the legislative process of the GENIUS Act, the information held on this page describes inconsistent: BitGo's description on May 21, 2026 stated that the bill had passed the Senate Banking Committee in 2025, while stablecoin insiders stated that it had been signed into law on July 18, 2025. This page does not make a final conclusion on the legislative stage it reflects.

All data describing the composition of reserves (treasury bonds, gold, bitcoin, cash splits) are self-reported by the issuer through its selected accounting firm and reviewed within the scope of certification or audit practice, rather than independently verified by this publication. Certificates and even complete audit reports simply confirm that the evidence available to accountants is consistent with the statement; they do not guarantee that the reserves will remain sufficient on any non-covered date, and none of the reports described here address changes in the value or liquidity of reserves under a stress scenario of massive simultaneous redemption.