Tether Gold (XAU₮) has received an unqualified audit opinion from KPMG USA.
In a post on the Tether website, the company said that audited statements indicate that XAU₮ is fully backed by allocated physical gold.
Tether states that as part of the audit, KPMG physically counted and inspected every individual gold bar backing XAU₮, rather than relying solely on custodian confirmations.
As of December 31, 2025, Tether Gold reportedly held 520,089.350 fine troy ounces of allocated gold, valued at $2.246 billion, against 520,089.300 XAU₮ in issue.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino noted this is the second audit completed of two of their stablecoins.
“I firmly believe XAU₮ is on track to become the first true competitor to the gold ETF market, bringing more utility to the end user, from gold that can actually move and settle at the speed of light, to lower custody costs and higher transparency thanks to the blockchain technology. Tether proved its extremely scalable model with USD₮; now it’s time to expand it to gold.”
Ardoino called gold the ultimate store of value, protecting holders from inflation.
“XAU₮ brings that protection on-chain for anyone, anywhere. Every holder, from individual savers to institutions holding it as a reserve asset, deserves to know exactly what they own. Just as with USD₮, the proof behind XAU₮ is no longer just a Tether promise. It’s a signed opinion from a Big Four auditor.”
Earlier this month, Tether shared that customer holdings of XAU₮ had grown 73% since the start of the year.
The gold reserves are held in Switzerland, and issuance is regulated under El Salvador’s Digital Asset Issuance Law
