Tether taps Deloitte for first USAT reserve report

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.