Smartphone with Tether logo is placed on displayed U.S. dollars in this illustration taken, May 12, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
(Reuters) - Tether, the creator of the world's largest stablecoin, is "engaging with a Big Four accounting firm" as it pushes for a long-awaited audit of its reserves, an effort CEO Paolo Ardoino said will be easier under U.S. President Donald Trump.
Tether has issued more than $140 billion worth of its dollar-pegged cryptocurrency and said for years that it will release an audit. Its token is designed to keep a constant value, something Tether says it does by holding dollar-denominated reserves for every token it creates.
An audit would help Tether improve the transparency of its reserves, which are currently subject to quarterly reports but not a full audit.
"It's our top priority," said Ardoino. "Now we are living in a landscape where it's actually feasible."
Ardoino did not specify which of the "Big Four" firms - PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG - Tether is talking to, and declined to indicate when an audit would be conducted.
Trump's stance toward crypto should pave the way for Tether to audit its reserves, said Ardoino, in contrast to what he called "Operation Chokepoint 2.0" - a phrase used by the crypto industry to refer to what it said was a concerted effort by U.S. regulators to deny crypto companies access to financial services.
On the campaign trail, Trump pledged to be a "crypto president" and has since signed an executive order to establish a strategic cryptocurrency reserve and promised to overhaul digital asset regulations.
"If the President of the United States says this is top priority for the U.S., Big Four auditing firms will have to listen, so we are very happy with that," said Ardoino.
Earlier this month, Tether hired Simon McWilliams as chief financial officer to steer the company toward a full financial audit.
Stablecoins are widely used to move funds between different cryptocurrencies or into regular cash.
Tether said it bought more than $33.1 billion of U.S. Treasury bills in 2024, making it the seventh largest buyer of U.S. government debt.
As of December 31, it held more than $94 billion in U.S. Treasury bills and more than $108 million in cash and bank deposits, according to a quarterly report on its reserves compiled by accounting firm BDO Italia.
Of the U.S. Treasury bills, 99% are held with Wall Street brokerage Cantor Fitzgerald, Ardoino said. Howard Lutnick, the former CEO of Cantor, is Trump's commerce secretary.
(Reporting by Hannah Lang in New York and Elizabeth Howcroft in Paris; Editing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes, Kirsten Donovan)
