Blumenthal demands Tether records on payments tied to ex-White House official

Tether, the stablecoin issuer, has until Nov. 3 to hand Senate investigators its records of payments to a consulting firm co-founded by Bo Hines, a former White House crypto official, under a letter sent Oct. 22 [1]. A stablecoin is a crypto token meant to hold a steady dollar value.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent the letter to Tether chief executive Paolo Ardoino. He sent a parallel letter to Todd Hines, chief executive of the consulting firm, Nxum Group [1][2]. Blumenthal wrote as the subcommittee's minority; the letters copy its Republican chair, Sen. Ron Johnson [1].

The letters rely on Wall Street Journal reporting. Citing the Journal, Blumenthal writes that Tether agreed in May 2025 to pay Nxum $415,000 a month. He writes that more than $6 million flowed to the firm while Bo Hines, then a White House official working on stablecoin legislation, held a stake in it [1]. The letter says Hines lobbied for changes to the GENIUS Act, the 2025 stablecoin law, provisions that have become known as the "Tether loophole." Blumenthal says these would let Tether keep operating outside the U.S. and give it more time to comply [1].

Blumenthal asks Tether for every payment to Nxum, including dates and wallet addresses. He asks why the payments were routed through a marketing firm, Notorious, and whether Tether discussed taking a stake in Nxum [1]. The Nxum letter seeks the firm's records of the same dealings [2].

The letters are requests, not findings. Tether's newsroom carried no statement on the letters as of 6:25 a.m. ET Oct. 23 [3]. Le Coin could not find a public response from Nxum. The next marker is whether either company answers by Nov. 3, and what the subcommittee's minority does if they do not.

Sources

1. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Ranking Member, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, letter to Paolo Ardoino, Chief Executive Officer, Tether, Oct. 22, 2026, https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026-10-22-Letter-from-Sen-Blumenthal-to-Tether.pdf, accessed Oct. 23, 2026, 6:25 a.m. ET.
2. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, letter to Todd Hines, Chief Executive Officer, Nxum Group, Oct. 22, 2026, https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026-10-22-Letter-from-Sen-Blumenthal-to-Nxum.pdf, accessed Oct. 23, 2026, 6:25 a.m. ET.
3. Tether, newsroom, https://tether.io/news/, accessed Oct. 23, 2026, 6:25 a.m. ET.

Holding the Corner.

Not financial advice.