Yesterday, March 31, Tether, the company behind the digital stablecoin USDT, issued a certificate regarding its reserves showing the amount of assets representing each coin minted and issued.

The certificate issued by Tether is the first of its kind in years.

Tether is trying to be more transparent.

Tether has been audited by a third party and confirmed to be fully backed by the reserves.

– Bomb (APompliano) March 30, 2021

According to the document consisting of Tether’s own report, as well as a statement from a small Cayman Islands accounting firm called Moore Cayman, as of February 28, Tether had approximately $35.3 billion in reserve assets and $35.2 billion dollars from liabilities.

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$35.1 billion of these liabilities “relate to the USDT issued cryptocurrency, meaning that it supports the USDT in circulation.

The testimony and document released by Tether are seen as a gesture to be more transparent after being subjected to intense scrutiny by the New York attorney general.

The New York State Attorney’s Office recently ended its long-running investigation into Tether’s operations and fined the company $18.5 million as part of a settlement agreement.

Questions still remain about Tether:

According to the testimony released by Tether, it had $35.3 billion on February 28, backing up to $35 billion of USDT in circulation at the time.

But what about before February 28?

Prior to that date, according to the New York Attorney General’s Office, it was not clear how much money Tether actually had.

Since the testimony only looks at a single moment in time, it is not possible to know if this is what is happening now.

A full audit can provide a broader picture of Tether’s assets and examine activity over a longer period of time.

What “assets” does Tether hold anyway?

The Moore Cayman memo says:

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Tether’s total consolidated assets are at least $35,276,327,156 as of February 28.

The total reserve held for issued digital assets exceeds the amount required to redeem the digital value.

Mr. Rohan Gray, Professor of Law at Willamette University, commented: Sourcesaying:

It is not clear what kind of assets they represent.

It is also unclear whether the assets are deposited in a licensed bank, whether they are US Treasuries, and whether they are liquid according to the liquidity criterion.

So, saying that you have assets for one thing is opaque and opaque.

He added:

What we know, they could have $25 in their bank account and the rest could be bitcoin.

What about future reports?

As part of the settlement with the New York attorney general’s office, Tether is required to file quarterly reports on its holdings.

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In those reports, Tether must publish the asset classes supporting its USDT (eg cash, loans, securities, etc.) with percentages for each of these classes.

Yesterday’s published testimony does not contain anything of the kind.

But these quarterly reports, submitted, may shed more light on exactly how Tether money is invested.

It is worth noting that since February, Tether has issued more than $6 billion in new cryptocurrency USDT.

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