Tether paid $6.3 million to the firm of Trump’s crypto adviser, starting while he worked on its rules

What happened

From January to August 2025, Bo Hines was executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets and led the White House push for the GENIUS Act, the law that sets the rules for stablecoins like Tether’s. He kept a one-third stake in Nxum, a consulting firm he co-founded with his father, Todd Hines, and Gary Dennis.

In April 2025, Todd Hines and Dennis met Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino in New York, according to the Wall Street Journal. Tether signed a brand and public-affairs contract at $415,000 a month through Notorious, the firm of marketing executive Peter Vincer. A planning document said “Nxum will engage all necessary parties and lead the entire process.” On May 11, 2025, Tether sent the first $2.49 million installment through its sister exchange, Bitfinex. Vincer kept $498,000 and passed the rest to a Nxum wallet. Two more installments followed in December 2025 and April 2026, after Hines had left. The Journal calculated that Nxum earned about $6.3 million.

Trump signed the GENIUS Act on July 18, 2025. Hines left the White House in August. Tether named him a strategic adviser on August 19 and, in September, CEO of its U.S. stablecoin, USAT.

Who benefited

Tether, which got 36 months instead of 18 before U.S. platforms must drop stablecoins that don’t meet the new rules. People familiar with the talks told the Journal that Hines encouraged doubling that window; Nxum says it came out of negotiations with many parties. Nxum’s three partners split the payments, and Hines went on to run Tether’s U.S. business.

Who wanted something

Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer, whose main token is issued from the British Virgin Islands, needed a way to keep serving Americans under the new law. Vincer’s first draft proposed that Nxum run “strategic lobbying” for Tether; the final contract left that out. In June 2025, Hines shared talking points on the bill in a Signal group with Nxum’s partners, the Journal reported. Nxum says he had stepped back, received no Tether-derived money while in government and had “no economic relationship of any kind with Tether.”

Who lost out

Americans who hold or use stablecoins, whose rules were shaped by an official with a stake in a firm the biggest issuer was paying. Cynthia Brown, senior ethics counsel at CREW, told the Journal that federal officials generally may not take part in matters touching their own financial interests. The White House said it expects officials to comply with federal ethics laws. Tether did not respond to the Journal.

Why it matters

The GENIUS Act is the rulebook for the U.S. stablecoin market. One of the officials who steered it through Congress owned part of a firm that the largest company under those rules started paying while the bill was moving. Tether’s longer window means restrictions on its U.S.-traded token don’t start until July 2028.

Sources The Wall Street JournalFortuneProtoscrypto.news