Tether became a political powerhouse in 2024
Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin, used 2024 to grow its market capitalization by nearly $50 billion, its investments across a variety of industries, its product lines, and its political influence.
Cantor Fitzgerald
Tether stores a massive portion of its reserves at Cantor Fitzgerald, a firm that has been led by Howard Lutnick. Lutnick, for his part, has been willing to publicly endorse the often beleaguered stablecoin, saying he is “a big fan.”
Lutnick is also an important political figure, serving as co-chair of the transition committee for President-elect Donald Trump.
He was also floated as a potential Treasury secretary before eventually being nominated as the future commerce secretary.
Read more: Tether custodian Cantor Fitzgerald loves Tether, chief says
Recently, Cantor Fitzgerald had to pay a $6.75 million penalty to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to resolve allegations that it had made two special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) make misleading statements.
Cantor Fitzgerald is also an investor in Tether.
Lobbying
Tether has seemingly slowed some of its lobbying activities this year, spending $360,000 at FTI Government Affairs, according to data compiled by OpenSecrets.
This is a significant reduction from 2023 when it spent $1,240,000 on lobbying and an even bigger drop from the $480,000 it spent in 2022.
El Salvador
One of the lobbying firms that Tether hired back in 2023 was DMM Consulting, a firm that has also lobbied on behalf of the Bukele government of El Salvador.
That same year, Tether’s sister firm, Bitfinex Securities, was the first “Digital Asset Service Provider” in El Salvador, receiving a license that allows it to trade tokenized securities.
Read more: Investors can get a refund on Bitfinex’s failed El Salvador hotel offering
Meanwhile, Tether has made investments in the country, including Volcano Energy, a firm that might eventually mine bitcoin using geothermal energy.
Elsewhere
In Europe, Tether has drawn a more unfavorable type of political attention, with the Digital Finance: Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations convincing Tether that it was no longer worthwhile to operate Euro Tether.
Tether hasn’t fully exited this market, partnering with other firms like Quantoz Payments to use Tether’s Hadron platform to launch Euro-based stablecoins. Though it’s important to note that Tether is also an investor in Quantoz Payments.
Broadly, Tether has grown both in market capitalization and in useful connections, likely facilitating further growth.
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