Tether taps Deloitte for first USAT reserve report

• Tether has released its first reserve report for its new U.S.-regulated stablecoin, USAT, which was reviewed by Deloitte and shows $17.6 million in reserve assets backing 17.5 million tokens.
• The report is a third-party attestation, which provides a snapshot of reserves at a specific point in time, rather than a full audit of the company's finances.
• The USAT token is designed to comply with new U.S. regulations, and Tether's stablecoin sector is growing rapidly, with a total market capitalization now over $315 billion, led by Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC.

Leading stablecoin issuer Tether has secured a sign-off from Deloitte for the first reserve report tied to its new U.S.-regulated stablecoin, after years struggling in its relationships with major accounting firms.

Deloitte reviewed a report prepared by Anchorage Digital Bank, which issued the company’s new USAT token. In a letter released Monday, the accounting firm said Anchorage reported $17.6 million in reserve assets backing 17.5 million USAT tokens in circulation. The token’s market cap has, since the report, risen to nearly $20 million as its growth accelerates.

The total market capitalization of the stablecoin sector has, in fact, been growing rapidly. It’s now past $315 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data, with Tether’s USDT making up $183 billion of that. Circle’s USDC comes in second place, at $76 billion.

The new USAT token follows the passage of the Genius Act last summer. The law limits the types of assets that can back stablecoins and requires larger issuers to move under federal oversight. USAT is structured to comply with those rules.

Third-party attestations such as this differ from full audits, however. They offer a snapshot of reserves at a specific point in time rather than a deep review of company finances.

Tether has been leveraging the revenue it generates from the assets backing its stablecoins to invest in a plethora of industries. These include a majority stake in Latin American agricultural firm Adecoagro (AGRO), a privacy-focused health app, a stake in video-sharing platform Rumble (RUM). More recently, it invested $200 million in digital marketplace Whop.

• Sanae Takaichi said on X that she has “absolutely no knowledge” of SANAE TOKEN and that her office has not approved or been informed about the project.
• Data shows the Solana-based token peaked at around a $30 million market cap before falling to $6 million.
• On-chain data shows the top three addresses hold about 60% of the token supply, with notable inflows to leading wallets, raising concentration concerns.

Disclosure & Polices: CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of Bullish (NYSE:BLSH), an institutionally focused global digital asset platform that provides market infrastructure and information services. Bullish owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets and CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish equity-based compensation.