Tether | Crypto

The stablecoin issuer bought SoftBank’s 26% stake, expanding its control over the public Bitcoin holder as it moves into lending, mining and capital markets. Tether has acquired SoftBank Group’s stake in Twenty One Capital, the Bitcoin treasury company that is expanding into lending, mining and capital markets services, in a move that gives the stablecoin issuer greater control over one of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin holders.  In an announcement on Wednesday, Tether said it purchased SoftBank’s roughly 26% stake for an undisclosed amount. SoftBank was one of the earliest backers of Twenty One Capital, which launched in 2025 as a Bitcoin (BTC) treasury company backed by Cantor Fitzgerald and led by Jack Mallers. Neither controlling shareholder Tether nor Twenty One Capital disclosed the size of Tether's stake. As part of the ownership change, SoftBank’s representatives will step down from Twenty One Capital’s board of directors. Read more

Charles Gerstein wants a federal judge to order Tether to transfer OFAC-frozen USDT tied to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to victims holding unpaid terrorism judgments

A public-private partnership among Tether, Tron, and TRM Labs is expanding its global reach, working with law enforcement in 23 countries.

T3 Financial Crime Unit says it has frozen over $450 million tied to suspected illicit activity as stablecoin compliance pressures intensify. The T3 Financial Crime Unit, a joint initiative backed by Tether, Tron and blockchain analytics company TRM Labs, says it has helped freeze more than $450 million in assets linked to suspected criminal activity since its launch in 2024. The group said in a Thursday release shared with Cointelegraph that it has worked with law enforcement agencies across 23 jurisdictions to target funds tied to alleged drug trafficking, exchange hacks, North Korea-linked activity, terrorist financing and violent “wrench” attacks, including kidnappings and extortion. The unit focuses on Tether’s USDT stablecoin activity on the Tron blockchain and says it has been able to freeze assets within 24 hours in multiple emergency cases at the request of authorities. T3 FCU said it intercepted 43.9% more illicit proceeds in 2025 than in the previous year. Read more

Tether’s second reserve asset is intelligence Tether’s new QVAC project begins with an unusual phrase for a stablecoin company. The company describes “QVAC Psy” as a family of foundational models “rooted in the principles of Psychohistory.” The reference to psychohistory belongs to Isaac Asimov’s Foundation universe, where Hari Seldon uses mathematics, statistics, and social dynamics […] The post Tether launches decentralized local AI using Isaac Asimov’s Psychohistory straight out of Foundation appeared first on CryptoSlate.

BlockSec data shows Tether froze over $500 million in USDT across 370 Ethereum and Tron addresses in 30 days, adding to $1.26 billion frozen in 2025 linked to illicit activity. Tether has frozen more than $514 million in USDT across Ethereum and Tron over the past 30 days, according to onchain data from BlockSec’s USDT Freeze Tracker, highlighting the stablecoin issuer’s growing role in crypto-related enforcement actions. As of Friday, the tool shows 370 addresses blacklisted in that period, including 328 on Tron and 42 on Ethereum, with about $505.9 million frozen on Tron and $8.73 million on Ethereum. The figures indicate that most recent enforcement activity is concentrated on Tron and highlight how often the world’s largest stablecoin issuer is intervening onchain to immobilize funds flagged as high-risk or linked to investigations. Read more

Jesse Spiro, Head of Government Affairs at Tether, said at Consensus Miami 2026 that the midterms will be a key test for whether crypto’s recent policy gains in Washington can survive politically.

Circle and Tether are going to make it harder for stablecoins to feel like money, said Ben O'Neill, head of money movement at Bridge.

The top stablecoin issuer’s balance sheet remains heavily concentrated in US Treasuries as stablecoin adoption expands across emerging markets. Stablecoin issuer Tether (USDT) reported $1.04 billion in net profit for the first quarter of 2026, as its excess reserves rose to a record $8.23 billion, according to its latest attestation on Friday. The company said its reserves remain heavily concentrated in US Treasuries, with around $141 billion in direct and indirect exposure, while total assets of about $191.8 billion exceeded liabilities of approximately $183.5 billion as of March 31. Tether said this level of exposure makes it the 17th largest holder of US Treasuries globally. Beyond Treasuries, reserves included about $20 billion in physical gold and $7 billion in Bitcoin (BTC). Read more

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden sent letters to Howard Lutnick and Tether CEO Paulo Ardoino asking about a loan Tether reportedly made to Lutnick's family.

Tether has moved to combine bitcoin treasury, mining, and financial services under one roof.

Canaan secures a new Tether order for modular mining hardware as the stablecoin issuer expands into integrated, data center-style Bitcoin infrastructure. Canaan (CAN) has secured an additional order from Tether for custom Bitcoin mining hardware, extending their collaboration beyond an earlier research and development effort that tested new system designs for large-scale mining. Under the new order, Canaan will supply high-density hash board modules designed for immersion-cooled systems, with usage planned at a Tether-linked facility in South America, the crypto mining tech maker announced on Tuesday.  Canaan is supplying these systems to deepen its role as a custom hardware provider for large-scale operators such as Tether. The agreement follows a 2025 R&D partnership with ACME Swisstech, which resulted in a proof-of-concept platform to improve efficiency and scalability in mining operations. Read more

The framework targets fragmented mining systems, offering a unified, open alternative for managing infrastructure across operations. Tether has released an open-source development framework for Bitcoin mining, aimed at giving operators and developers unified control over hardware and software across mining operations. According to Monday’s announcement, the framework combines a backend SDK and user interface tools to replace fragmented, vendor-specific systems, allowing miners to monitor devices, manage operations and build custom applications across sites from a single control layer. It uses a modular architecture in which hardware exposes standardized functions and independent modules can be added without altering the core system, enabling integration across different machines, services and locations. Read more

The stablecoin issuer cited "activity tied to unlawful conduct” but no further explanation for the freezing of the dollar-pegged tokens held in two wallet addresses. Tether, the company that issues the USDt dollar-pegged stablecoin, said Thursday that it froze more than $344 million in USDt at the request of US law enforcement officials.  The company froze two wallet addresses at the request of US authorites for “activity tied to unlawful conduct,” according to Tether’s announcement. Tether did not provide a specific reason for the asset freezes, but said that it freezes wallet addresses tied to “sanctions evasion, criminal networks, or other illicit activity.” Read more

The purchase comes as the stablecoin issuer expands its investments across crypto infrastructure and financial services, including in Kaio, also announced today. Tether has taken an 8.2% stake in Antalpha, making the stablecoin issuer one of the company’s largest shareholders following its May 2025 initial public offering (IPO), according to a Monday filing. The Schedule 13D filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission indicates that Tether now holds 1.95 million shares through related entities, with Giancarlo Devasini, chairman of Tether, sharing voting and dispositive power over the position. The filing also states that Tether and its related entities may increase or reduce their holdings over time depending on market conditions and other factors. Read more

USDT stablecoin issuer Tether has stepped in to anchor a massive recovery plan for Drift Protocol, the Solana-based decentralized exchange (DEX) that was crippled by a $286 million exploit earlier this month. However, the rescue package includes a potent commercial string that could challenge Circle's dominance of USDC on the Solana blockchain. According to the recovery plan, Drift […] The post Tether uses $127M Drift rescue to challenge Circle’s grip on Solana payments appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The Drift Protocol will use the $150 million to relaunch and restore user funds following a $280 million exploit earlier in April. Stablecoin issuer Tether, the company behind USDt (USDT), said Thursday it will back a $150 million recovery program for the Drift Protocol decentralized exchange (DEX) following an exploit of the platform in April. The recovery plan for the $280 million Drift Protocol exploit includes $127.5 million from Tether, with the rest coming from undisclosed partners, according to Tether’s announcement. Tether said: The Drift Protocol platform will “contribute directly” to the ongoing recovery of user funds as the platform resumes normal trading activity.  Read more

Tether launches tether.wallet, a self-custodial app supporting USDT, XAUT, USAT and Bitcoin with cloud-based key backup features. Tether, the company behind the world’s largest stablecoin, USDt (USDT), has launched a self-custodial wallet called tether.wallet. Tether.wallet supports three Tether-issued assets: USDT, XAUt (XAUT) and the US-focused USAT (USAT), as well as Bitcoin (BTC), the company announced Tuesday. Tether said the wallet allows users to transact without requiring them to hold separate network or gas tokens, with fees paid directly in the asset being transferred. Read more

The $500 billion valuation would put Tether ahead of every US bank except JPMorgan Chase, surpassing Bank of America and placing it among the world’s largest financial firms. Tether is pressuring investors to commit to a fundraising round at a $500 billion valuation within the next two weeks, saying that it may delay the raise if demand falls short. The El Salvador-based firm has been seeking fresh capital since late last year but has faced resistance from investors wary of the valuation, The Information reported Friday, citing unnamed sources. If commitments fall short of expectations, the company is likely to delay the raise. The $500 billion target would place Tether among the world’s largest financial firms, exceeding every US bank except JPMorgan Chase. JPMorgan, the largest bank in the world, has a market capitalization of about $794.55 billion, while the second-largest bank in the country, Bank of America, has a market cap of $352.86 billion. Read more

A debate over stablecoin yield, likely to impact Tether, is underway in the US government as lawmakers consider a market structure bill. Jesse Spiro, the head of government affairs at stablecoin issuer Tether, will be chairing the organization of a crypto-backed Super political action committee (PAC) to “actively support candidates” in the 2026 US midterm elections and beyond. In a Wednesday announcement, the Fellowship PAC, a committee that launched in August 2025 and later claimed to have raised “over $100 million” from undisclosed backers aligned with the crypto industry, said that Spiro would become chair ahead of its first political endorsements for the 2026 elections. The PAC said that it would support candidates in favor of innovation, regulatory clarity for digital assets, and open markets. Read more