Any honest assessment of Tether has to hold two facts together. It is the most useful stablecoin in the world — for remittances, for trading, for dollar access in countries where dollars are hard to get — and it has never produced the audit that would let anyone verify its backing to the standard its size warrants.
What the reserves look like now
The composition has improved dramatically since 2021, when commercial paper made up a large share. Today it is predominantly short-dated US treasuries and repo, with bitcoin, gold and secured loans in smaller allocations, and a substantial declared equity surplus above liabilities. Quarterly attestations from an accounting firm confirm balances at a point in time.
Attestation versus audit
An attestation confirms specific balances existed on a specific date. A full audit examines the issuer's financial statements and internal controls over a period, tests valuations, and expresses an opinion. Tether has repeatedly said a full audit is coming and has not delivered one in over a decade, which is the single largest unresolved question about the largest stablecoin in existence.
The history that shapes the score
In 2021 Tether settled with the CFTC and the New York Attorney General over misrepresentations about its backing, paying penalties and accepting reporting obligations. That is not ancient history in a business whose entire product is a claim about reserves.
Who should use it
Traders needing the deepest liquidity, and users in markets where USDT is the only practical dollar. For holding, USDC offers materially better verifiability at a small cost in liquidity.