Tether CEO Responds to Audit Controversy: Strength Validated, Criticisms Will Not Deter Progress

BlockBeats News, August 15th, Tether stablecoin issuer CEO Paolo Ardoino responded to external doubts about the company's first full financial audit, stating that some critics cannot accept past misjudgments of Tether and asserting that the company has repeatedly proven its reliability.

Ardoino, in an interview with The Block, said: "To be honest, I don't care." He pointed out that Tether USDT had previously withstood significant redemption pressure. In 2022, Tether completed redemptions of around $7 billion within 48 hours, representing about 10% of the reserves at that time, and did not suspend redemption services.

He stated that many traditional financial institutions may struggle to handle outflows of similar scale in such a short period. Even though some consider Tether a "villain," the company will continue to serve its claimed 650 million users who rely on USDT, especially in emerging markets.

Previously, Tether announced that KPMG USA LLP issued a "clean opinion" on Tether International, S.A. de C.V.'s 2025 financial statements. However, some questioned whether this audit covered the overall finances of the Tether group and why the company did not publicly release the full audit report.

In response, sources familiar with the matter stated that as Tether is a private company, it will not disclose audited financial statements publicly but will provide relevant documents as required by regulatory agencies and banks. Tether stated that Tether International is the sole entity issuing USDT.

The audit results indicated that as of December 31, 2025, Tether's reserve assets exceeded liabilities by over $6.8 billion. Ardoino stated that Tether will conduct a full financial audit annually in the future while continuing to release quarterly reserve attestations.

Regarding the reasons for not completing a comprehensive audit in previous years, Ardoino mentioned that the issue was not the complexity of the balance sheet but rather the previously hostile regulatory environment in the United States towards the crypto industry, which deterred major accounting firms from working with crypto companies.

Furthermore, Ardoino revealed that Tether is still focused on the AI field and plans to support projects using advanced AI models to discover vulnerabilities in Bitcoin's open-source software. He believes that software vulnerabilities currently pose a more realistic threat to Bitcoin than quantum computing.