Senate's top Democratic investigator looking into Tether payments to Bo Hines' firm
Senator Richard Blumenthal is investigating potential ethical and legal conflicts regarding payments from Tether to a consulting firm founded by Bo Hines. The inquiry focuses on whether Tether sought influence over cryptocurrency legislation while Hines held a role in the Trump administration.
Why it matters
This investigation highlights potential corruption and regulatory capture at the intersection of cryptocurrency firms and government policy.
Blumenthal, the ranking Democrat on the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent letters Thursday to Tether and to the consulting company Hines started with his father and another partner, Nxum Group.
"The highly unusual terms and nature of Tether’s business relationship with both Nxum and Bo Hines raise alarming ethical and legal concerns, indicating that Tether was likely well aware of the illegality and impropriety of issuing payments to a current White House official with such a direct role in shaping cryptocurrency legislation that was instrumental to its business," Blumenthal wrote to Tether CEO Paulo Ardoino.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Nxum had received large payments for consulting work for Tether when Hines was still advising President Donald Trump and his administration on crypto policy (including on stablecoin issuers significant to Tether). Blumenthal requested details of those business arrangements.
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