The person who left his job to work for Tether was already receiving money from Tether while still on the job.
Senator Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent letters to Tether and Nxum Group demanding payment records, wallet addresses, and lobbying communications by November 3.
It stems from a report in the WSJ last week: while former White House crypto adviser Bo Hines was advising the Trump administration on stablecoin policy, Nxum, the consulting firm he co-founded with his father, received substantial consulting fees from Tether. After leaving his government post, Hines went on to become CEO of Tether’s U.S. business.
The senator’s exact words: this arrangement is “highly unusual” and raises serious ethical and legal concerns.
Tether’s response: outside counsel previously conducted an internal investigation and found no wrongdoing.
My take: this is different from the usual news about Tether being fined. This is trouble at the level of “who writes the rules.” The OCC just finalized the GENIUS stablecoin rules this week. USDT wants to enter the U.S. market in a legitimate way, but before the rules even take effect, people are digging into the past of the person who helped write them.
For those of us watching the charts, there’s no need to worry about USDT depegging in the short term—the reserves are a separate matter. What we’re watching is whether anything else breaks before or after the November 3 deadline. Every time this kind of drama plays out, USDC quietly gets a wave of attention. The stablecoin wars have never been fought on on-chain data alone.
What do you think—is Hines’s move just a routine Washington revolving door, or has Tether really messed up this time? 💬
$USDT
$USDC #稳定币 #Tether #CryptoRegulation
Not investment advice. DYOR. Trading involves risk.