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Tether is aiming to raise as much as $20bn in a private funding round that would value the operator of the world’s most traded cryptocurrency at about half a trillion dollars.
The stablecoin company has entered into talks with investors to raise between $15bn and $20bn in fresh equity for a roughly 3 per cent stake, according to three people familiar with the matter.
At the lower end of the range, the fundraising would value Tether at almost $500bn, catapulting the highly profitable group into the ranks of the world’s most valuable privately owned companies.
Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite group SpaceX was valued at about $400bn in July, while ChatGPT maker OpenAI last month entered into talks with investors about a share sale that would value the company at $500bn.
Tether runs USDT, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, and backed by high-quality securities such as Treasuries.
The group was fined in 2021 by the US for making “misleading statements” about its reserves — and has drawn criticism for its stablecoin’s alleged use in cyber crime and money laundering. Tether has denied claims that it facilitates criminal activity.
Cantor Fitzgerald, which under former chief executive Howard Lutnick acquired a stake in Tether of an undisclosed size, is advising the lead investors in the deal, one of the people said. The deal was first reported by Bloomberg.
Lutnick handed control of Cantor to his children when he became US President Donald Trump’s commerce secretary earlier this year. Trump’s desire to make America the “crypto capital” of the world has propelled bitcoin’s price to a series of record highs this year and sparked a wave of dealmaking across the digital asset industry.
Tether and Cantor did not immediately respond to messages or emails seeking comment.
Tether’s USDT has about $170bn in circulation, nearly 500mn global users and acts as a crucial link between traditional currencies and digital assets such as bitcoin and ether.
Co-founded in 2014 by an Italian-born former plastic surgeon, Tether last year said it made a profit of about $13.4bn thanks largely to the interest income derived from the Treasury holdings that back its main token.
The El Salvador-based group is expected to hoover up even more Treasuries in the near future. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent has signalled that large stablecoin operators will become a key source of demand for the deluge of US government debt required to fund the administration’s spending plans.
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