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Sen. Blumenthal demands Tether records over payments to a firm co-founded by ex-White House crypto adviser Bo Hines
Summary
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a letter on Thursday asking Tether for records on its dealings with Nxum, a consulting firm co-founded by former White House crypto adviser Bo Hines, Cointelegraph and The Block reported.
The request follows a Wall Street Journal report that Tether began a business relationship with Nxum weeks after Hines became the White House's top crypto adviser; Cointelegraph put the deal at $6.3 million, while The Block described payments of 'millions of dollars.'
Blumenthal said the alleged payment 'implicates federal ethics, anticorruption, and lobbying laws,' and Cointelegraph quoted his letter as saying messages reportedly show Tether coordinating Nxum's lobbying on the GENIUS stablecoin act.
A Tether spokesperson told both outlets that external counsel had previously run an in-depth internal investigation into the matter that 'found no evidence of wrongdoing.'
Updates
- Update, : Oct. 23: Decrypt also reported Sen. Blumenthal's demand for Tether's records on payments to Nxum, the firm co-owned by Bo Hines.
Key facts
- Blumenthal also sent a letter on Thursday to Nxum, The Block reported.
- Hines led the President's Council of Advisers on Digital Assets from January to August 2025, then joined Tether as a strategic adviser and later became CEO of Tether US, Cointelegraph said.
- Harry Jung, the council's former deputy director, is now at Nxum, according to his X account, The Block reported.
- Cointelegraph noted Blumenthal has limited authority as ranking member of the subcommittee, though the Nov. 3 midterms could change party control.
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