Senator Richard Blumenthal demanded on 22 October that Tether hand over every payment it made to Nxum Group, the consulting firm co-founded by Bo Hines, including the dates, the payment methods and the cryptocurrency wallet addresses used. Hines ran White House digital assets policy while the money moved, and he now runs the company’s US arm.
Blumenthal’s letter to chief executive Paolo Ardoino asks for responses by 3 November, which is election day in the US midterms, and a second letter went to Nxum chief executive Todd Hines, Bo Hines’s father. The story moved this week from a newspaper investigation to a formal records request, and FinanceFeeds covered the original Wall Street Journal report on 15 October.
Every Payment, Every Wallet Address, Due 3 November
The letter runs to seven numbered requests and sets the period as 1 January 2024 to the present. Blumenthal wants a breakdown of all payments to Nxum, to the marketing firm Notorious, or to any individuals affiliated with either, plus every consulting and lobbying service Nxum performed whether or not a contract specified it.
Records of communications and contracts with Bo Hines between 20 January and 9 August 2025, the span of his government service, are requested in full, along with anything touching regulators or lobbying.
The Money Reached Nxum Through a Marketing Firm First
Tether agreed in May 2025 to pay $415,000 a month after Nxum pitched it “strategic lobbying and a full scale public relations and media awareness campaign,” according to the letter. Rather than contracting directly, the company assigned the contract and sent payments in cryptocurrency through Notorious, run by Peter Vincer, which passed them to Nxum, where the letter says they were split three ways and transferred again. Direct contracting began once Hines left government.
Reporting by Unchained puts the total under the marketing deal at about $6.3 million, with a first installment of $2.49 million from Bitfinex on 11 May 2025, of which Vincer kept $498,000. Fellowship PAC, chaired by Tether executive Jesse Spiro, separately paid Nxum $6.55 million across five disbursements between January and April 2026. FinanceFeeds tracked that PAC’s first election spending earlier this year.
Blumenthal asks why Notorious was used as an intermediary at all, and why the firms later sought a nondisclosure agreement from Vincer, who the letter says was offered over $300,000 and a stake in future payments in exchange for one. A fourth request asks whether the two have discussed Tether buying into Nxum, after the Journal reported Nxum sought investment claiming a 25% stake would go for $56 million.
Investor Takeaway
A records request is not an enforcement action, so the near-term risk to Tether is disclosure and reputation rather than any penalty.
Tether Says Outside Counsel Already Found No Wrongdoing
“Tether is aware of the allegations reported in The Wall Street Journal that form the basis of Senator Blumenthal’s letter,” the company said in a statement given to CoinDesk. “External counsel previously conducted an in-depth internal investigation into the matter, which found no evidence of wrongdoing.” A representative for Nxum told the Journal that Hines “did not receive any Tether-derived funds during that period.”
Ardoino had already criticized the senator’s methods on 19 October, saying Blumenthal ignored relevant information and briefed the press on an earlier report before letting the company respond. That exchange followed the claim that wallet freezes cut Iran-linked activity by 94%, the previous entry in the same subcommittee thread. No criminal allegation has been made against any party.
What the “Tether Loophole” Bought
The substance Blumenthal is circling is legislative, and the letter is specific about it. Hines personally lobbied for changes to the GENIUS Act that would let Tether keep operating outside the United States and give it longer to comply, provisions the letter calls the “Tether loophole,” and Ardoino is said to have demanded Nxum “obliterate” the bill’s opponents. Hines announced his departure on 9 August 2025, 22 days after the GENIUS Act was signed, and the company’s own announcement of his hiring followed on 19 August.
USDT now has until July 2028 to find a compliant path or US exchanges may have to stop offering it, which is what the extra time amounts to in practice, and a separate federally regulated token, USAT, was built for the domestic market meanwhile.
A Minority Inquiry Cannot Issue Subpoenas, and That Changes on 3 November
Blumenthal holds the ranking member’s seat rather than the chair’s, which makes this a minority-staff inquiry seeking voluntary cooperation. Under the subcommittee’s rules for the current Congress, subpoenas are authorized and issued by the chair or a member the chair designates, which is why the letter was copied to Chair Ron Johnson. Nothing compels a reply.
CoinDesk notes that chairing the subcommittee would hand Blumenthal subpoena power and agenda control, with prediction market Kalshi putting Democratic chances of taking the chamber at 69% as of 22 October. The same arithmetic is driving crypto PAC money into Senate races this cycle.
A nearer test of whether companies answer him at all fell due today. Blumenthal’s 8 October letter to Cantor Fitzgerald chairman Brandon Lutnick, carrying 13 requests about the firm’s reported 5% stake in Tether, set its deadline for 23 October. FinanceFeeds has covered the Lutnick family loan the subcommittee also examined.
Investor Takeaway
Without the chair’s authorization there is no subpoena, so Tether can decline the 3 November request with no immediate consequence.
