Tether

KPMG’s first full audit of Tether’s 2025 statements arrived in August 2026 as scrutiny widened from U.S. safeguards to USDT’s alleged use in Iran’s shadow banking.

Who they are

Tether is the company behind USDT, a dollar-linked stablecoin central to its coverage and closely associated with crypto-market infrastructure alongside Bitfinex, Bitcoin, Circle and USDC. Recent stories also place it beyond token issuance, including ownership of Northern Data, planned bitcoin mining in Uruguay, and investments such as Neura Robotics’ reported financing.

The recent arc

Coverage reached its all-time quarterly high in 2026Q1, following a late-2025 turn toward a more explicitly U.S.-facing strategy: Tether launched the U.S.-regulated USAT stablecoin in September 2025 and appointed former White House Crypto Council executive director Bo Hines to lead its new U.S. unit. The most recent cycle has then focused on whether the company can convert that positioning into greater institutional legitimacy.

That transition has been contested rather than linear. KPMG completed Tether’s first full audit of its 2025 financial statements in August 2026, while Bloomberg reported in July that Howard Lutnick and Hines sought to loosen GENIUS Act safeguards to benefit Tether. Reuters subsequently detailed the collapse of Tether’s two planned Uruguay bitcoin-mining sites amid a power dispute with state utility UTE, and a Blumenthal-led report in September put USDT at the center of allegations concerning Iran’s shadow banking system.

The tension

The coverage circles a basic conflict between Tether’s push for regulated acceptance and operational expansion, and persistent questions about oversight, political influence and illicit-finance exposure. Its competition with Circle and USDC makes compliance and reserve credibility commercially consequential, while its longstanding association with Bitfinex and its mining and investment activity broaden the set of risks beyond the stablecoin itself.

Why it matters

If Tether’s audit, regulated-product strategy and international partnerships gain traction, its role could extend further into regulated stablecoins and adjacent technology and infrastructure investments. But the Uruguay setback, debate over crypto safeguards, and the allegations around USDT-linked illicit activity show that expansion may bring intensified scrutiny; whether transparency measures satisfy regulators and market participants remains the key uncertainty.

Related: USDT · Bitfinex · Bitcoin · USDC · Paolo Ardoino · U.S.