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Tether paid about $6.3 million to Nxum, a consulting firm co-founded by former White House crypto adviser Bo Hines, according to an October 15 investigation by The Wall Street Journal, as reported by Ambcrypto. The payments began while Hines was still serving in the Trump administration and helping advance the GENIUS Act.
Hines held a one-third ownership stake in Nxum for the duration of his government service, and the report says the first payment arrived while he was still at the White House. Nxum has denied that he was involved in its dealings with Tether during that period.
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Key facts
- Tether agreed to pay $415,000 per month in six-month installments under a contract lasting at least two years, per Crypto.news.
- The first payment of $2.49 million went out on May 11, 2025, transferred through Bitfinex, with further $2.49 million transfers reaching Nxum-controlled wallets in December 2025 and April 2026.
- Hines served as executive director of the White House digital assets council from January to August 2025; the GENIUS Act was signed into law on July 18, 2025.
- Hines announced his White House departure in August 2025 and became CEO of Tether’s US stablecoin business, USAT, in September 2025.
- Nxum was involved in the September 2025 launch of Fellowship PAC, which paid the firm more than $6.5 million for advertising and related services, per Crypto.news.
The payments and the contract
The commercial arrangement began taking shape in April 2025, when Hines’ father and another Nxum partner met Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino in New York, according to Crypto.news. Marketing entrepreneur Peter Vincer arranged the meeting and presented a proposal covering public relations, branding and lobbying. A revised agreement later went through Vincer’s marketing company, Notorious, with the final contract excluding references to lobbying.
Vincer told the Journal he served as an intermediary and transferred the contract directly to Nxum after Hines left government. He disputed the amount he ultimately received, while Nxum rejected his account of the payment disagreement.
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Where the reports diverge
The outlets differ slightly on the headline amount. Ambcrypto and Crypto.news both put the figure at about $6.3 million, while Coinpedia reported Tether paid more than $6 million. Coinpedia, citing the Journal, said the money was divided among Nxum’s three partners and that Hines discussed the stablecoin bill with his partners over Signal while in office — a detail not present in the other two reports.
Crypto.news reported a further detail: an investor presentation circulating plans under which Tether would acquire a 25% stake in Nxum for $56 million, with founders retaining 65%. During the GENIUS Act negotiations, Hines supported giving crypto platforms three years to stop offering stablecoins that failed the new federal requirements, up from an originally proposed 18 months.
Why it matters
The timeline puts a senior government official at the centre of stablecoin rulemaking while he held an ownership stake in a firm that later did business with the largest stablecoin issuer in the market. The GENIUS Act was pitched as a credibility boost for the asset class. Tether is now trying to grow in the US under the exact rules Hines worked on, and he leads that push. Cynthia Brown, senior ethics counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told the Journal that federal officials generally face restrictions on participating in government matters involving their financial interests. Nxum maintained that Hines recused himself from company business and that his stake did not require divestment.
What to watch
The GENIUS Act’s implementation continues through federal rulemaking. An August 2026 review found agencies had missed the July deadline for completing the required rules, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency was targeting November 2026 to finalize its framework. Tether’s USDT is issued by a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands; as of August 2026 the Treasury had not issued a comparability determination for that jurisdiction, and restrictions on US platforms offering noncompliant stablecoins are scheduled to apply in July 2028.
Reported by ambcrypto.com.
Sources: AMBCrypto, Coinpedia, Crypto.news