Stablecoin issuer Tether is raising new money.
In a post on X from earlier today, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said they were “evaluating a raise from a selected group of high-profile key investors, to maximize the scale of the Company’s strategy across all existing and new business lines (stablecoins, distribution ubiquity, AI, commodity trading, energy, communications, media) by several orders of magnitude.”
Reports are now pegging the funding round at $500 billion with a valuation of around $20 billion, according to Bloomberg. Investors would receive about 3% equity stake in the firm. The report also shared a note of caution as the deal was not yet finalized.
Tether is the issuer of the leading dollar-based stablecoin USDT with a current market cap of over $173 billion. Over the years, the company has been plagued by allegations of fraud and illicit activity, but the company has worked to counter these claims while producing reports on reserves covering stablecoin usage.
As payment stablecoins were legalized under the GENIUS Act, Tether is in a good position to grow its market share. At the same time, competition already exists with more players in the works. Legacy financial services firms are expected to participate too, as stablecoins may be viewed as the future of value transfer, replacing legacy rails, which are slow and costly.
