520,089 ounces, $2.246 billion, 0.05 ounces: KPMG counted every single gold bar behind XAUT.
#XAUT完成毕马威审计获无保留意见 Early this morning, Tether announced that KPMG US had completed an independent audit of TG Commodities, the issuer of XAUT, and issued an unqualified opinion on its 2025 financial statements. This is the first Big Four audit since XAUT launched more than five years ago, and Tether’s second Big Four audit this year (the one in August was for the issuer of USDT).
Here are three points that explain what the audit actually examined:
1. They counted the gold bars, rather than just checking the books. KPMG didn’t simply accept a confirmation letter from the custodian; it physically counted every gold bar in the vault and checked its serial number. As of December 31, 2025, the vault held 520,089.350 troy ounces of allocated physical gold, worth approximately $2.246 billion, backing 520,089.300 $XAUT in circulation—that’s 0.05 ounces more gold than tokens, essentially full 1:1 coverage.
2. This audit covers last year’s books. Today’s reserves are higher: Tether’s November 4 report said that the gold backing XAUT had reached a record $3.44 billion, up 59% since the start of the year; BDO’s September 30 attestation reported 827,417.63 ounces. The audit confirms the controls and last year’s baseline, not today’s real-time holdings.
3. An audit isn’t price insurance. Today, gold prices are also falling alongside risk assets. XAUT is currently priced at $3,904, down 1.66% over 24 hours. The audit can prove that “there really is gold behind the token”; it can’t prove that “the price of gold won’t fall.”
My take: The biggest concern with gold tokens has never been gold price fluctuations, but the question of trust: “Is there really gold behind the token?” In the past, we had to rely entirely on reports issued by the issuer. This time, a Big Four firm personally counted the gold bars—a tangible step forward in building trust. But Tether hasn’t yet published the full report, and the audit opinion covers only one company, TG Commodities. So the next thing to watch is whether two things check out: whether the full report is made public, and whether the next reserve attestation matches up. Only if both do will I say that XAUT’s trust equation has been fully settled.
Would you buy a gold token like this as gold, or as a crypto token?
I keep a close eye on audit news like this. Follow me, and I’ll help you check the numbers when the next reserve report comes out.
—Bao Bao
#XAUT完成毕马威审计获无保留意见 Early this morning, Tether announced that KPMG US had completed an independent audit of TG Commodities, the issuer of XAUT, and issued an unqualified opinion on its 2025 financial statements. This is the first Big Four audit since XAUT launched more than five years ago, and Tether’s second Big Four audit this year (the one in August was for the issuer of USDT).
Here are three points that explain what the audit actually examined:
1. They counted the gold bars, rather than just checking the books. KPMG didn’t simply accept a confirmation letter from the custodian; it physically counted every gold bar in the vault and checked its serial number. As of December 31, 2025, the vault held 520,089.350 troy ounces of allocated physical gold, worth approximately $2.246 billion, backing 520,089.300 $XAUT in circulation—that’s 0.05 ounces more gold than tokens, essentially full 1:1 coverage.
2. This audit covers last year’s books. Today’s reserves are higher: Tether’s November 4 report said that the gold backing XAUT had reached a record $3.44 billion, up 59% since the start of the year; BDO’s September 30 attestation reported 827,417.63 ounces. The audit confirms the controls and last year’s baseline, not today’s real-time holdings.
3. An audit isn’t price insurance. Today, gold prices are also falling alongside risk assets. XAUT is currently priced at $3,904, down 1.66% over 24 hours. The audit can prove that “there really is gold behind the token”; it can’t prove that “the price of gold won’t fall.”
My take: The biggest concern with gold tokens has never been gold price fluctuations, but the question of trust: “Is there really gold behind the token?” In the past, we had to rely entirely on reports issued by the issuer. This time, a Big Four firm personally counted the gold bars—a tangible step forward in building trust. But Tether hasn’t yet published the full report, and the audit opinion covers only one company, TG Commodities. So the next thing to watch is whether two things check out: whether the full report is made public, and whether the next reserve attestation matches up. Only if both do will I say that XAUT’s trust equation has been fully settled.
Would you buy a gold token like this as gold, or as a crypto token?
I keep a close eye on audit news like this. Follow me, and I’ll help you check the numbers when the next reserve report comes out.
—Bao Bao
