TFTC on Nostr: Bloomberg just published a detailed investigation into how Commerce Secretary Howard ...
Bloomberg just published a detailed investigation into how Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and former White House digital assets adviser Bo Hines shaped the GENIUS Act in ways that directly benefited Tether.
Before becoming Commerce Secretary, Lutnick was CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, which manages Tether's reserves. Cantor acquired a 5% stake in Tether for $600M in April 2024.
Tether's chairman called the price "bloody cheap." Based on Tether's reported profits, that stake was worth over $6B on paper.
According to court filings citing contemporaneous notes, Tether's chairman said Lutnick "managed to kill every bill about stablecoins, crypto, etc."
Once Trump took office, Hines took over, calling a three-year compliance grace period Tether wanted a "red line" for the White House. He prevailed.
One month after the bill was signed, Tether hired Hines. Three months later, Tether loaned money to a trust benefiting Lutnick's children as they purchased his Cantor Fitzgerald holdings.
The final law included what critics call the "reciprocity loophole" allowing USDT to be regulated by El Salvador instead of the US, and a "defi loophole" limiting issuers' responsibility for tracking tokens used on secondary markets.
This is the kind of story that should remind people what stablecoins actually are. They're permissioned corporate tokens with kill switches, not permissionless money.
The biggest beneficiaries of crypto legislation have never been bitcoin users. They've been the issuers sitting closest to the levers of power.
Published at
2026-07-23 19:45:21 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "Bloomberg just published a detailed investigation into how Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and former White House digital assets adviser Bo Hines shaped the GENIUS Act in ways that directly benefited Tether.\n\nBefore becoming Commerce Secretary, Lutnick was CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, which manages Tether's reserves. Cantor acquired a 5% stake in Tether for $600M in April 2024.\n\nTether's chairman called the price \"bloody cheap.\" Based on Tether's reported profits, that stake was worth over $6B on paper.\n\nAccording to court filings citing contemporaneous notes, Tether's chairman said Lutnick \"managed to kill every bill about stablecoins, crypto, etc.\"\n\nOnce Trump took office, Hines took over, calling a three-year compliance grace period Tether wanted a \"red line\" for the White House. He prevailed.\n\nOne month after the bill was signed, Tether hired Hines. Three months later, Tether loaned money to a trust benefiting Lutnick's children as they purchased his Cantor Fitzgerald holdings.\n\nThe final law included what critics call the \"reciprocity loophole\" allowing USDT to be regulated by El Salvador instead of the US, and a \"defi loophole\" limiting issuers' responsibility for tracking tokens used on secondary markets.\n\nThis is the kind of story that should remind people what stablecoins actually are. They're permissioned corporate tokens with kill switches, not permissionless money.\n\nThe biggest beneficiaries of crypto legislation have never been bitcoin users. They've been the issuers sitting closest to the levers of power.\nhttps://blossom.primal.net/a4b3d1bb694ebeef883446291a237802842ea22ce8f299a229baa6ee03e3842e.jpg",
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