What is reserve-ratio?

The short answer

The reserve ratio compares what an issuer says it holds against how many tokens circulate. Issuers state it as full backing, every token matched by reserves. Verifying it is a dated reading exercise. Take the reserve figure from a report. Take the circulation figure from a transparency page. Note both dates. The dates rarely agree, and the drift is the lesson.

The definition, sourced and dated

The issuer-stated form comes first. All Tether tokens are pegged at 1-to-1 with a matching fiat currency. They are backed 100 percent by Tether’s reserves. That is the issuer’s transparency page, rendered 11 September 2026 ^[2]. Circle’s developer docs state the same design for USDC. It is backed 100 percent by highly liquid cash and cash-equivalent assets, always redeemable 1:1 for USD. Read 11 September 2026 ^[1].

A statute now sets a floor in the United States. Under the GENIUS Act, the reserve requirement for permitted payment stablecoins is 1:1. The statute text is banked from govinfo, read 9 September 2026. The GENIUS Act page carries the framework. Issuer statements are issuer voice. A statutory floor is law. This page keeps the two apart.

The mechanism, how the ratio is observed

The ratio is not one number published at one time. It is assembled from moving parts, each with its own clock.

Tether’s transparency page, rendered 11 September 2026, states its position as of the last reserves report, 30 June 2026. Total assets, 187,751,825,408 dollars. Total liabilities, 183,642,296,213 dollars. Net equity, 4,109,529,195 dollars ^[2]. The USDT token page holds the attestation PDF’s own totals. The derived coverage is approximately 102.2 percent of liabilities. That ratio is labeled here as a computed comparison, inference from the two reported figures. It is not a number the issuer publishes.

Circulation moves faster than reports. The same page carried a circulation of 183,377,009,628.87 dollars under a last-update stamp of 9 September 2026 ^[2]. One page holds three dates. A reserves report dated 30 June 2026. A circulation stamp dated 9 September 2026. And the read itself, 11 September 2026. The drift between them is not a scandal. It is the term’s core teaching point. Any honest statement of a reserve ratio carries the dates it was assembled from.

Circle’s panel works on a monthly attestation cycle. The developer docs state the cadence. Circle publishes monthly attestation reports for USDC reserve holdings on its transparency page ^[1]. The page itself showed reserves composition as of 10 September 2026 ^[3]. The stated categories follow. Bank deposits. Deposits at systemically important institutions. Overnight reverse Treasury repo. Treasuries under three months. And the Circle Reserve Fund, a 2a-7 money market fund managed by BlackRock. How such reports are read, and what an examination does and does not opine on, is the attestations page’s subject.

Two dated examples

The stress example. During the March 2023 bank run, the issuer described USDC reserves as 77 percent, 32.4 billion dollars, in short-dated US Treasury bills and 23 percent, 9.7 billion, in cash, with 3.3 billion dollars, about 8 percent, stuck at the failed bank, per the pressroom statement datelined 12 March 2023 ^[4]. The ratio held its meaning under stress. The composition was stated, dated, and inspectable. Composition language on this site stays phrased as reported categories. Never as a guarantee of any asset’s presence.

The reporting-chain example is the auditor observation above. What the reserves are is one question, covered by the RWA term since reserves are tokenization’s asset side. Whether anyone independent looked at them is a separate question with its own page. This term is the ratio. The attestations page is the examination.

What the reserve ratio is not

It is not solvency. A fully backed reserve can be held at a bank that fails, which is exactly the March 2023 case above. It is not a guarantee, since the categories issuers name are self-described. And it is not comparable across issuers without method notes. Report dates, attestation cadences, and category taxonomies differ. The dated figures above are the honest form. The panels below on the token pages carry each issuer’s own current numbers.

What is a stablecoin reserve ratio?

The coverage relationship between an issuer’s reported reserve assets and its circulating tokens. Issuers state full backing. The United States statute sets a 1:1 floor. Honest readings carry the report date and the read date. The parts move at different speeds.

What are the GENIUS Act reserve requirements?

Permitted payment stablecoins must hold reserves at 1:1 under the GENIUS Act. The statute text is banked from govinfo, read 9 September 2026. The GENIUS Act page carries the full framework and its history.

What are USDC reserves made of?

Stated categories, as of 10 September 2026. Bank deposits. Deposits at systemically important institutions. Overnight reverse Treasury repo. Treasuries under three months. And the Circle Reserve Fund, a 2a-7 money market fund managed by BlackRock ^[3]. The monthly attestation reports are the inspectable layer, covered on the attestations page.

What are USDT reserves backed by?

The transparency page’s reserves report of 30 June 2026 stated total assets of 187.75 billion dollars against total liabilities of 183.64 billion ^[2]. The composition categories the issuer names are its own description. The derived coverage, about 102.2 percent, is computed here, labeled as such.

Where is Tether’s attestation report?

The issuer’s transparency page frames its figures as of the last reserves report, 30 June 2026. Circulation was stamped 9 September 2026. This site read the render on 11 September ^[2]. How to read what surrounds such reports is the attestations page’s subject.

Where this term sits

The cryptocurrency hub frames the cluster. The sibling terms RWA and custody mark what the reserves are and who holds them. Every figure above carries its source and both of its dates.