Tether is the most captivating story you’ve never heard of. A first mover in the stablecoin space, Tether’s flagship product has grown to a monster $167 billion in market cap with just around 200 employees and $13 billion in profits last year, making it one of the most successful corporations on the planet. (And it was cofounded by a Mighty Duck, but that’s a story for another time.)
And yet, the company has been dogged by accusations of opacity, compliance blunders, and worse throughout its decade-long history, including a settlement with the New York attorney general and a reported investigation by the Department of Justice’s Southern District of New York office. Just last year, it seemed the crypto giant was marching into the crosshairs of the SDNY—a potential existential threat for a company that needs access to U.S. Treasuries to survive.
To put it mildly, Tether’s fortunes changed with Trump’s election. For years, it was unclear who held the Treasuries that serve as the reserves backing up Tether’s stablecoin, with journalists racing to figure out the offshore banks like the Bahamian Deltec servicing the crypto firm. Thanks to Tether’s own sketchy accounting process, critics argued that Tether didn’t even hold the reserves it claimed to, though the company vociferously denied the claim. Then, in early 2023, Tether revealed it was working with the New York financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald, with Cantor’s CEO Howard Lutnick publicly defending the company in early 2024. One year after that, Lutnick would become Trump’s commerce secretary.
Tether has been on a meteoric rise ever since. After Congress passed the Genius Act, which established regulations for the stablecoin sector, Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, scored a prime seat at Trump’s signing ceremony in July, alongside other CEOs, including Gemini’s Winklevoss twins and Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong.
That was only the beginning. Yesterday, Ben Weiss and I reported that Tether made its most brazen move yet by hiring Bo Hines, the 29-year-old former Yale wide receiver and two-time congressional candidate that Trump tapped in January to lead his far-reaching crypto agenda. After Hines announced his departure from the role just over a week ago, the crypto industry rumor mill churned with guesses about where he would end up. Hines told us last Thursday that he was deciding between five final offers. It turns out it wasn’t a difficult choice.
Hines, whom Jessica Mathews and I profiled in April, will help lead Tether’s expansion in the U.S., which Ardoino has said will include a new, U.S.-based stablecoin compliant with the new Genius regulations. With a $167 billion moat that blows its competitors out of the water, Tether is betting that it can beat new entrants into the stablecoin wars, from Stripe to Citi. And with its shiny new hire, Tether is hoping the critics forget about its past.
Leo Schwartz
X: @leomschwartz
Email: leo.schwartz@fortune.com
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VENTURE DEALS
- Aalo Atomics, an Austin, Texas-based builder of nuclear plants, raised $100 million in Series B funding. Valor Equity Partners led the round and was joined by Fine Structure Ventures, Hitachi Ventures, NRG Energy, Vamos Ventures, Tishman Speyer, Kindred Ventures, and others.
- Midas, an Istanbul, Turkey-based investment app, raised $80 million in Series B funding. QED Investors led the round and was joined by International Finance Corporation and QuantumLight.
- Seemplicity, a Tel Acic, Israel-based risk management & remediation platform, raised $50 million in Series B funding. Sienna Venture Capital led the round and was joined by Essentia Venture Capital and existing investors Glilot Capital Partners, NTTVC, and S Capital.
- Kasa, a New York City-based operator of hotel and apartment hotel rentals, raised $40 million in funding. Silver Lake Waterman led the round.
- Zed, a Boulder, Colo.-based developer of an open-source code editor, raised $32 million in Series B funding. Sequoia Capital led the round.
- Pylon, a San Francisco-based AI-powered support platform for B2B companies, raised $31 million in Series B funding. Andreessen Horowitz and Bain Capital Ventures led the round.
- Keychain, a New York City-based developer of an AI-powered manufacturing platform for the consumer packaged goods industry, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Wellington Management and BoxGroup led the round and were joined by existing investors.
- Tote.ai, a San Francisco-based AI-powered point-of-sale system for fuel and convenience stores, raised $22.6 million in funding. Cota Capital led the round and was joined by Storm Ventures and Cervin Ventures.
- Bluefish AI, a New York City-based AI platform for brand marketing, raised $20 million in Series A funding. NEA led the round and was joined by Salesforce Ventures, Crane Venture Partners, Swift Ventures, and Bloomberg Beta.
- Convoke, a San Francisco-based developer of an AI operating system for biopharma, raised $8.6 million in seed capital. Kleiner Perkins and Dimension Capital led the round and were joined by ACME, Comma Capital, Liquid2, Not Boring Capital, Audacious, and others.
- TensorZero, a New York City-based startup building open-source infrastructure for LLMs, raised $7.3 million in seed funding. FirstMark led the round and was joined by Bessemer, Bedrock, DRW, Coalition, and angel investors.
- Zipline AI, a San Mateo, Calif.-based AI infrastructure company, raised $7 million in seed funding. Wing VC led the round and was joined by Stripe, Box Group, and Exceptional Capital.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- Edison Partners invested $65 million in KnowledgeLake, a St. Louis, Mo.-based AI-powered document processing and workflow automation platform.
- 4M Building Solutions, backed by O2 Investment Partners acquired Miracle Clean Services, an Akron, Ohio-based provider of commercial and office cleaning services, and FKI Cleaning, a Washington, Mo.-based commercial cleaning company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Charlesbank Capital Partners acquired a majority stake in CENTEGIX, an Atlanta, Ga.-based workplace safety company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Incode, backed by General Atlantic, acquired AuthenticID, a Kirkland, Wash.-based AI-powered identity verification platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Residex.AI, backed by Accel-KKR, acquired Kevala, a Seattle, Wash.-based AI-powered workforce management platform for health care staffing. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Ruppert Landscape, backed by Knox Lane, acquired Enviro-Scapes, a Nashville, Tenn.-based landscaping company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- TigerConnect, backed by Vista Equity Partners, acquired eVideon, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based developer of hospital smart room technology and digital patient engagement. Financial terms were not disclosed.
EXITS
- Daikin Applied acquired DDC Solutions, a San Diego, Calif.-based high-density GPU cabinet cooling company, from Thompson Street Capital Partners and Cequel III. Financial terms were not disclosed.
OTHER
- Salesforce agreed to acquire Regrello, a San Francisco-based AI-powered operating system for manufacturing and supply chain operations. Financial terms were not disclosed.
FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS
- Pritzker Private Capital, a Chicago, Ill. and Los Angeles, Calif.-based investment firm, raised $3.4 billion for its fourth fund focused on family, founder, and management-owned businesses in the manufactured products and services sectors.
PEOPLE
- Scale Venture Partners, a Foster City, Calif.-based venture capital firm, promoted Maggie Basta and Max Abram to principal. The firm also promoted Damian Gardiner to senior associate.
