Tethering loose ends: Senate probes Tether’s $6.3 million Nxum deal

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal asked Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino for information about a reported $6.3 million deal between the stablecoin issuer and Nxum, a marketing company co-founded by former White House crypto adviser Bo Hines. In a Thursday letter to Ardoino, the Connecticut lawmaker said the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations demanded “records and information related to contracts, payments, communications, and lobbying” between Tether and Nxum. The inquiry into Nxum, Tether and Hines was part of what Blumenthal called the Trump administration’s “self-enrichment and self-dealings with cryptocurrency firms.”

“While Hines failed to divest his one-third stake in Nxum [...] he worked closely over encrypted messaging applications with Nxum to coordinate lobbying, advocacy, and browbeating of members of Congress that were opposed to, or had sought changes to, pending stablecoin legislation,” Blumenthal said. Blumenthal also wrote: “Those messages also reportedly demonstrate that Tether was directly coordinating Nxum’s lobbying efforts on the GENIUS Act which would regulate stablecoins, with CEO Paolo Ardoino demanding that Nxum ‘obliterate’ the legislation’s opponents.” The lawmaker added: “The highly unusual terms and nature of Tether’s business relationship with both Nxum and Bo Hines raise alarming ethical and legal concerns, indicating that Tether was likely well aware of the illegality and impropriety of issuing payments to a current White House official with such a direct role in shaping cryptocurrency legislation that was instrumental to its business.”

Hines served as executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets from January to August 2025, when he left the White House to join Tether as a “strategic adviser.” He later became CEO of Tether US. Another Trump administration crypto adviser, Harry Jung, left his position in July 2026 and joined Nxum as a managing director in August. Cointelegraph reached out to Tether for comment on the investigation and report but did not receive an immediate response.

Trump, his family and members of his administration continue to face scrutiny over accusations that they are reaping financial windfalls from crypto policies on laws over which they have control or influence. The president disclosed earning $1.4 billion from investments related to crypto in 2025. Blumenthal has limited authority as the Democratic ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, while the results of the 2026 midterm elections could potentially change party control in the House of Representatives and Senate, potentially giving Blumenthal and other Democrats additional authority to investigate Trump and his administration’s ties to the crypto industry.