Leading stablecoin issuer Tether has secured Deloitte’s signature on the first provision report related to its new U.S. regulated stablecoin, after years of troubled relations with major accounting firms.
Deloitte reviewed a report prepared by Anchorage Digital Bank, which issued the company’s new USAT token. Anchorage reported $17.6 million in reserve assets supporting 17.5 million USAT tokens in circulation, the accounting firm said in a letter released on Monday. Since the report was released, the token’s market cap has risen to nearly $20 million as its growth accelerates.
In fact, the total market capitalization of the stablecoin industry has been growing rapidly. That number now exceeds $315 billion, with Tether’s USDT accounting for $183 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. Circle’s USDC ranks second, worth $76 billion.
The new USAT token was launched following the passage of the Genius Act last summer. The law limits the types of assets that can back stablecoins and requires larger issuers to submit to federal oversight. USAT is structured to adhere to these rules.
However, this type of third-party certification is not the same as a full audit. They provide a snapshot of reserves at a specific point in time rather than an in-depth review of a company’s financials.
Tether has been using the revenue generated from its stablecoin-backed assets to invest in numerous industries. These include a majority stake in Latin American agriculture company Adecoagro (AGRO), a privacy-focused health app, and a stake in video-sharing platform Rumble (RUM). Most recently, it invested $200 million in digital marketplace Whop.