Sen. Richard Blumenthal demanded Tether’s records on payments to Nxum, a firm co-owned by former White House crypto adviser Bo Hines, raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest and ethical violations.
In brief Sen. Richard Blumenthal asked Tether to hand over records on its dealings with Bo Hines and Nxum, the consulting firm he co-founded by Nov. 3. The Wall Street Journal reported that Nxum earned $6.3 million from a Tether deal struck while Hines, who kept a one-third stake, helped craft the GENIUS Act. A Nxum representative said Hines wasn’t involved in the deal and received no Tether-derived funds while in government. Tether is facing fresh scrutiny in the Senate over millions of dollars that reportedly flowed to a firm co-owned by Bo Hines while he helped shape U.S. stablecoin law at the White House. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino a letter Thursday demanding records of the company’s dealings with Hines and Nxum, the consulting firm he co-founded. Blumenthal gave Tether until Nov. 3 to respond. Myriad: Who will win the midterms? Click to make your prediction . Hines was executive director of President Donald Trump’s Presidential Council of Advisers for Digital Assets and a key architect of the GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025. He left the White House on Aug. 9, 2025, and Tether named him CEO of its new U.S. division the following month. Blumenthal’s letter builds on an Oct. 14 Wall Street Journal investigation . The Journal reported that Nxum has earned $6.3 million from a deal Tether struck in May 2025. Tether agreed to pay a marketing firm, Notorious, $415,000 a month, and the firm passed most of the first payment to a wallet used by Nxum, where it was split three ways. Later payments went directly to Nxum after Hines left government. Hines kept his one-third stake in Nxum while serving in the White House, the Journal reported. The Journal also reported that Hines urged lawmakers to double the law’s compliance window from 18 to 36 months, a change that chiefly benefited Tether. Messages it reviewed showed Hines sharing talking points about Republican holdouts with his Nxum partners. After a call from Ardoino, Hines’ father and Nxum co-owner, Todd Hines, wrote: “They want us to obliterate these members that are fighting crypto.” Bitcoin BTC · USD $81,369 − 0.44 % 24H 7D 1M 1Y 2023 Oct 16 Oct 18 Oct 20 Oct 22 Oct 23 $84.8k $83.5k $82.2k $80.9k 24h High High $81,939 24h Low Low $81,048 Vol Vol $938.1M Market projections Odds by Myriad This week $80,000 to $82,000 $80k–$82k 65 % chance → Buy Bitcoin with USDT Powered by Jupiter $ 50 $ 100 $ 500 Buy Price data by CoinGecko CoinGecko More Bitcoin news and projections → Daily Debrief Newsletter Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more. Email address Join free Join 72,000+ readers Create an account to save your articles. Add on Google Add Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.