Glossary entry
Stablecoin Attestation vs Audit
DeFiHow a point-in-time reserve attestation by an accounting firm differs from a full financial audit, and what each one actually covers.
Definition
A stablecoin attestation is a report in which an accounting firm confirms what an issuer's reserves looked like at a specific moment, based largely on information the issuer provides. It is not the same as a financial audit: an audit examines a full set of financial statements over a period, tests internal controls, and expresses a formal opinion, while an attestation covers a narrower agreed scope at a single point in time. Attestations are still useful, showing reserve composition and totals, but they say little about the days between reports or about liabilities elsewhere in the group. Readers should check who signed the report, which standard was applied, how often it appears, and what was explicitly excluded.
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