KPMG U.S. has issued an unqualified audit opinion on TG Commodities’ 2025 financial statements, confirming that Tether Gold (XAU₮) was fully backed by allocated physical gold. The auditor physically counted every bar and verified serial numbers in Swiss vaults, a level of verification rare in the digital asset space.
By the Numbers
As of December 31, 2025, 520,089.300 XAU₮ tokens were backed by 520,089.350 fine troy ounces valued at approximately $2.246 billion. The bottom line: the token supply matched the physical ounce count virtually one-to-one. Tether holds approximately 146 metric tons of gold, making it the largest known private holder outside central banks, according to company disclosures.
The GLD Comparison
Tether positions XAU₮ as a competitor to SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), the $134.29 billion giant managed by State Street. That is 39 times XAU₮’s $3.44 billion in assets reported by Tether as of September 30, 2026. CEO Paolo Ardoino stated XAU₮ is on track to become the first true competitor to the gold ETF market.
On fees, Tether has an argument. GLD charges 0.40% annually. XAU₮ charges 0.25% to buy and 0.25% to redeem with no annual fee. Investors will note, however, that State Street’s GLDM charges only 0.10%.
U.S. Retail Lockout
The figure that matters for American investors is zero: U.S. persons are barred from opening accounts directly with Tether Gold, except for qualified institutional buyers and accredited investors. Direct purchase also carries a 50-token minimum, creating a $208,000 entry floor at current prices. Anyone with a U.S. brokerage account can buy GLD; XAU₮ remains structurally inaccessible to the vast majority of U.S. retail capital.
The Quarterly Gap
The audit covers only year-end 2025. By September 30, 2026, Tether reported 827,418 ounces outstanding, a 59% increase verified only by quarterly sample tests performed by BDO Italia. A full audit examines financial statements as a whole; a quarterly attestation confirms reserves at a specific point in time.
Market Context
XAU₮ holds more than half of the total tokenized gold market by market cap. Its closest competitor, PAX Gold (PAXG), carries a market cap of nearly $2.2 billion and is supervised by the New York State Department of Financial Services. Tether’s USDT stablecoin also received its first clean KPMG audit for 2025 financial statements in August 2026.
Sources
- Tether Gold completes KPMG audit with $2.2 billion in gold backing
- Tether (cryptocurrency)
- Tether Gold Passes KPMG Audit: Can It Beat America’s Biggest Gold Fund?
- Tether Gold Hits $3.3B as Bullion-Backed Token Demand Climbs | CoinMarketCap
- 500 USD to XAUT | Convert United States Dollar to Tether Gold on Bybit
- World's biggest private gold holder Tether gives users weeks to exit vault
Photo: Jingming Pan / Unsplash (Unsplash License)
