Stablecoins, RWA & Tokenization

What is the difference between an attestation and an audit?

An attestation is a point-in-time confirmation by an accounting firm that stated figures, such as a stablecoin's reserves, matched the records on a specific date. An audit is broader and deeper, examining a company's full financial statements and internal controls over a period and giving a formal opinion on their accuracy. So an attestation answers did the numbers match on this day, while an audit asks are the overall financials reliable and complete. For example, many stablecoin issuers publish monthly attestations rather than full audits, which offer different levels of assurance.