Senator Richard Blumenthal, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent letters to Tether and Nxum Group, a consulting firm co-founded by Bo Hines, seeking details of their business arrangements. The Wall Street Journal reported that Nxum received large payments for consulting work for Tether while Hines was still advising President Donald Trump on crypto policy, including on stablecoin issuers relevant to Tether. Blumenthal said the terms raised alarming ethical and legal concerns. Tether said external counsel had investigated the matter and found no evidence of wrongdoing, and Hines now heads Tether's U.S. operations. Prediction market Kalshi gives Democrats a 69% chance of retaking the Senate, which would allow Blumenthal to chair the subcommittee with greater powers.
Summary written by Upside AI from the original article. Read the source for full details.
Read the original on CoinDesk ↗
Keywords
Open a keyword to see other news on the same topic.
Related tickers and likely impact
BTC/USDT
▼ Likely negativeBitcoin
Relevance: low
| Market | Crypto |
|---|---|
| Exchange | Binance |
| Sector | Layer 1 |
| Market cap | $1.6T |
| Close on 10/21/2026 | 84,093.42 |
| Change that session | +1.28% |
ETH/USDT
▼ Likely negativeEthereum
Relevance: low
| Market | Crypto |
|---|---|
| Exchange | Binance |
| Sector | Layer 1 |
| Market cap | $285.6B |
| Close on 10/21/2026 | 2,473.76 |
| Change that session | +1.00% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
Related news
- Ex-Trump crypto adviser profited after helping pass stablecoin bill: WSJ
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Bo Hines, a former crypto adviser to President Donald Trump who later joined Tether, reportedly kept a one-third stake in investment firm Nxum while still at the White House. Nxum received $6.3 million under a deal with Tether, with the first payment made while Hines was still in government, and he reportedly kept his partners updated on the GENIUS Act's progress. The stablecoin law was signed in July 2025 and is scheduled to take effect in January 2027. The report comes amid scrutiny of Trump and his family benefiting from crypto, as the president disclosed $1.4 billion in digital asset-related earnings in 2025 and former officials move into crypto companies.
- US senator probes Tether after reported deal with ex-Trump crypto adviser
Democratic ranking member Sen. Richard Blumenthal has asked Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino for records on contracts, payments, communications and lobbying between Tether and Nxum, a marketing company co-founded by former White House crypto adviser Bo Hines, following a Wall Street Journal report of a $6.3 million deal. Blumenthal says Hines did not divest his one-third stake in Nxum and worked with it to lobby against, or seek changes to, stablecoin legislation, and that messages show Tether coordinating Nxum's lobbying on the GENIUS Act. He says these arrangements raise alarming ethical and legal concerns. As of Friday, Kalshi event contracts gave Democrats 92% and 68% chances of retaking the House and Senate, respectively, from 2027, while Tether did not respond to a request for comment.
- Tether Invests in Peso to Grow Everyday USDT Use in Latin America
Tether has led a pre-seed funding round in Bolivian fintech Peso, which offers USDT payments through food delivery apps and local banking networks. The investment will support Peso's expansion into Brazil, Colombia and Argentina, where it will link USDT with local currencies through banking and merchant payment systems. Peso already integrates USDT payments into Yango's food delivery service in Bolivia and offers QR payments, merchant point-of-sale services and virtual accounts tied to Bolivia's banking system. Tether did not disclose the size of the investment. The move comes as Bolivia faces a prolonged US dollar shortage and high inflation, and the government is considering a framework that would recognise USDT alongside the boliviano and the US dollar.
- Tether backs Bolivian fintech bringing USDT payments to food delivery and banking
Tether led a pre-seed funding round in Bolivian fintech Peso, which offers USDT payments through food delivery apps and local banking networks, with the investment size undisclosed. The funds will support Peso's expansion across Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Argentina, and the company has already integrated USDT into Yango's food delivery service in Bolivia while offering QR payments, merchant point-of-sale services and virtual accounts linked to the banking system via ACH. The move comes as Bolivia faces a prolonged US dollar shortage and high inflation, and the government began considering in July 2026 a framework that would recognize USDT for payments, savings and trade alongside the boliviano and US dollar. Lending platform Tala also partnered with El Dorado to offer USDT loans through its digital wallet.
- Tether leads $15 million funding round for AI-focused payment startup Mural
Tether led a $15 million Series A round in Mural, a New York-based financial infrastructure company founded by former Palantir engineers, bringing its total funding to $28 million. The round also included North Island Ventures and existing investors. Mural provides tools for managing accounts, payments, identity verification and compliance across banks and blockchains, with customers such as Deel and Opera. The deal reflects Tether's push into agentic finance, where AI systems can execute transactions for people and businesses, and Mural lets firms set transaction limits and require approvals for larger payments. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said that as agents start moving money, connections to banks and payment networks become essential.
- Tether backs AIsa as strategic investor, completing seed extension round
AIsa, a San Francisco-based company, has completed its seed extension round with Tether and HIVEN joining as strategic investors, bringing its total funding to more than $9 million. Existing backers include Alibaba, Tribe Capital, Sumitomo Corporation, Draper Associates and Saison Capital. The company says fragmented providers, integrations and billing systems make it hard for enterprise AI agents to run at scale, and its Trusted Resource and Transaction Network aims to unify resource discovery, access and payments under governed, usage-based access. The platform connects agents to external data, AI search, models, APIs and software tools, with usage metering, billing and settlement built in. The article also notes Tether reported a $1.5 billion net operating profit for the second quarter, driven mainly by interest on US Treasury holdings.
Related markets
Latest news
- The Ultimate Growth Stock to Buy With $1,000 Right Now
Dutch Bros trades at a P/E ratio of 58, more than double the S&P 500's 26, but the article argues its growth prospects still make it a rewarding investment for growth investors. The beverage chain has posted 13 straight quarters of same-store sales growth, including 5.8% comps in the second quarter, with same-shop transactions up 1.7% year over year. Diluted EPS in the second quarter rose 40% to $0.28. It started the year with 1,136 locations in 25 states, added 89 stores in the first half of the year (48 in the latest quarter), and expects to add at least 185 locations this year.
- Alphabet Raised $41 Billion in One Quarter to Pay for AI
Alphabet spent $51.355 billion on capital expenditures in Q3 2026, up 114.4% year over year, while operating cash flow of $42.290 billion did not cover that spending, leaving free cash flow at negative $9.065 billion. The company raised about $41.4 billion, including $12.371 billion from common stock sales under an at-the-market program and $28.996 billion of new debt, and repurchased no stock, compared with $11.504 billion a year earlier. Long-term debt rose to $125.102 billion from $46.547 billion at the end of 2025, and interest expense climbed to $967 million. Management kept 2026 capex guidance at $195–205 billion and expects capex to increase significantly in 2027. Google Cloud revenue rose 103% to $30.709 billion, but Alphabet shares fell 9.97% to $292.50 in after-hours trading.
- The Same $10,000 in AMD and Nvidia Could Produce Very Different Results by 2030
The article's price model projects that a $10,000 stake in NVIDIA could reach about $18,056 in its base case (an 80.56% total return), while the same amount in AMD could reach about $11,989 (19.89%), with the five-year target running to October 2031. Reference prices are $546.66 for AMD and $215.69 for NVIDIA; NVIDIA trades at about 16x forward earnings, versus about 43x for AMD after a 155.26% year-to-date rally (NVIDIA: 15.92%). NVIDIA's fiscal second-quarter revenue reached $96.22B, up 105.8%, and AMD's reached $11.54B, up 50.1%, while the article says AMD's bull case depends on its steeper growth curve. Risks cited include high volatility (betas of 2.454 for AMD and 2.216 for NVIDIA), China and export controls, margin pressure and execution risk. The article stresses that these projections are for research purposes and actual results could differ substantially.
- Microsoft's $28 Billion Cash Flow Edge Over Google Gives It an AI Advantage, Analyst Says
Microsoft generated nearly $28 billion more free cash flow than Alphabet last quarter, an advantage that D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria says matters in the AI race. Luria said, 'Microsoft's going to be fine. They don't need capital.'
- Caterpillar’s Earnings Plunge Hits These 3 Popular ETFs Hardest
Caterpillar shares fell 7.27% to $661.54 in the session after its third-quarter report, and CNBC named Caterpillar and Alphabet as the two earnings reports dragging the S&P 500 lower. Adjusted EPS of $7.20 beat the $7.04 consensus, but revenue of $20.68 billion, up 17.26% year over year, slightly missed the $20.69 billion expectation, and the EPS beat narrowed to 2.37% from 31.83% in Q2. Operating profit included $128 million of tariff recoveries versus $392 million in Q2, and management gave no numeric guidance, though Power Generation sales rose 30% on data-center turbines and engines. The article notes that three ETFs holding Caterpillar, XLI (8.51% weight), FIDU (5.40%) and VYM (1.50%), still rose in the session as the rest of their portfolios offset the decline.
- Microsoft's AI Bet Pays Off
Stifel's Brad Reback said Microsoft's Azure growth is beating expectations and could stay above 50% in the near term and well above 40% for the foreseeable future, supported by enterprise demand and OpenAI. He said the results increase confidence that Microsoft can sustain mid-to-upper teens revenue growth. Reback called the $25 billion bond offering, its first high-grade bonds in more than nine years, a move made from a position of strength, as Microsoft was guided to remain free cash flow positive and has about $10 billion of debt coming due. He said Oracle carries more risk because its cash flow is negative and it is concentrated on one customer, OpenAI, while Microsoft has a broader business including M365 Copilot.
Get the briefing on Telegram or Zalo
Join the Upside Telegram channel or Zalo group for the Vietnam stocks and gold briefing at 8:00 and 19:00 (Vietnam time) on trading days, plus a weekly wrap on Saturday morning.