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- Tether Finally Gets Audited
Tether Finally Gets Audited
PLUS: Cool Inflation, Cold Market
Welcome back to The Warmup.
Here’s what we’re watching:
Market Snapshot
Tether Finally Gets Audited
BTC Support Zone Play
Cool Inflation, Cold Market
Market: Crypto is red while stocks stay flat, with gold leading as the dollar weakens.`
Tether Finally Gets Audited
What’s going on:
KPMG signed off on Tether's full 2025 financial statements, the first complete audit in the stablecoin issuer's history.
The auditors issued an unqualified opinion, the highest grade available, after substantive testing of assets, systems and documentation.
They physically inspected every gold bar backing USDT rather than relying on custodian paperwork.
Reserves exceeded liabilities by $6.81 billion as of December 31, 2025.
What it means:
Tether first promised this audit in 2017, and USDT clears more daily volume than most exchanges, so proof of backing matters to everyone who parks money there between trades.
The cushion has thinned since the audit date.
BDO's June 30, 2026 attestation puts excess reserves at $4.11 billion, roughly 40% lower, with gold down more than 20% from its January record eating into the buffer.
The 2017 question is answered. The 2026 question is how much cushion survives a bear market.
BTC Support Zone Play
What’s going on:
BTC is now testing the $62.2K–$62.7K support zone while trading below the 4H 200 EMA at $64.1K.
Key levels we’re watching:
Support: $62.2K–$62.7K
Next support: ~$61.5K
4H 200 EMA: $64.1K
Resistance: $66.6K–$66.8K
Directional Bias: Cautiously bullish
This is where buyers need to step in. If current support fails, $61.5K is the next area to watch.
What we’re waiting for:
A strong reaction from support
Reclaim of $64.1K
Otherwise, a sweep toward $61.5K
Cool Inflation, Cold Market
What’s going on:
July CPI came in at 3.4% year over year with core at 2.5%, both a tick softer than June and in line with forecasts.
Gold and silver caught a bid on the print. Bitcoin sat near $62,700 and ether near $1,875, both roughly flat over the past day.
Traders still price a 43% chance the Fed hikes in September, down from 54% a week earlier.
What it means:
Softer inflation usually reads as fuel for risk assets. This time it reads as one less reason to hike, which is a much thinner catalyst.
Spot bitcoin ETFs shed $131 million on August 13, a second straight day of withdrawals, while AI equities keep absorbing the marginal dollar.
Bitcoin trades 48.6% below its level a year ago and ether 60.4% lower.
Rate relief matters when capital wants to rotate back into crypto. Right now it wants AI.
 | ARB: |
 | MSTR: |
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Does a clean KPMG audit change how you feel about holding USDT? |
The plumbing of this industry keeps getting stronger while prices keep going the other way. Tether cleared the audit critics demanded for nine years. Figure nearly tripled quarterly profits on $4.3 billion of onchain loan volume. Bitcoin still sits 48.6% below where it traded last summer.
That gap is uncomfortable, and it is also normal. Infrastructure gets built in the years nobody is watching, and the market prices it in a rush much later. Anyone who held through 2018 or 2022 recognizes the shape of this.
The hard part is that patience feels identical to being wrong while you are living through it. Capital is chasing AI right now, and that will stay true until it stops. The work in the meantime is simple: understand what you own, size it so a drawdown cannot force your hand, and let the compounding happen off the chart.
— The Warmup Team
Always do your own research. This newsletter is supplemental material to help educate readers as they make their own decisions. Projects mentioned here are provided to give a potential early-mover advantage.