Howard Lutnick, US President-elect Donald Trumpās pick for Commerce Secretary, aims to launch a $2 billion project to lend dollars to clients who supply Bitcoin as collateral, according to Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter on Nov. 24.
Funding for the program will start at $2 billion and is āexpected to eventually reach into the tens of billions,ā one of the sources told Bloomberg.
Lutnickās financial services firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, currently provides custody services to Tether. It uses it to hold the billions of dollars of US Treasuries that act as reserves for its USDT stablecoin.
As Lutnick prepares for a US government position, he is planning to hand over his firmās relationship with Tether to colleagues. Brandon Lutnick, his son who works at Cantor as a trader, has previously interned with Tether in Lugano, Switzerland, Bloomberg noted.
Cantor announced the Bitcoin financing project in June, stating at the time, āWe are excited to help unlock Bitcoinās full potential and continue bridging the gap between traditional finance and digital assets.ā
Additionally, Cantor struck a deal to invest in Tether with a stake valued at as much as $600 million, equating to about a 5% ownership interest, according to a Wall Street Journal report over the weekend.
āI wonder if thatās an older share purchase, dating back to a lower interest rate period and smaller Tether market cap,ā mulled Bitcoin pioneer Adam Back, who added, āsounds a bit cheap otherwise given the revenue you can calculate from interest at treasury rates.ā
The WSJ has repeatedly targeted Tether with FUD, its latest in October claiming that the firm was being investigated for failing to comply with AML laws, an accusation that CEO Paolo Ardoino denied, labeling it as regurgitated āold noise.ā
Industry observers have speculated that the targeting of Tether by US financial regulators could be coming to an end under the new pro-crypto administration.
Tetherās USDT supply has surged more than 10% since the beginning of November to $132.8 billion, giving it a commanding market dominance of 68.5%.
The total stablecoin market cap has surged to a record high of $194 billion, representing 5.5% of the entire crypto market, according to Coingecko.
The post Cantor Fitzgerald to Tap Tether in $2B Bitcoin Lending Project, Secures 5% Stake appeared first on CryptoPotato.
Funding for the program will start at $2 billion and is āexpected to eventually reach into the tens of billions,ā one of the sources told Bloomberg.
Lutnickās financial services firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, currently provides custody services to Tether. It uses it to hold the billions of dollars of US Treasuries that act as reserves for its USDT stablecoin.
Cantor Tether Partnership
As Lutnick prepares for a US government position, he is planning to hand over his firmās relationship with Tether to colleagues. Brandon Lutnick, his son who works at Cantor as a trader, has previously interned with Tether in Lugano, Switzerland, Bloomberg noted.
Cantor announced the Bitcoin financing project in June, stating at the time, āWe are excited to help unlock Bitcoinās full potential and continue bridging the gap between traditional finance and digital assets.ā
Additionally, Cantor struck a deal to invest in Tether with a stake valued at as much as $600 million, equating to about a 5% ownership interest, according to a Wall Street Journal report over the weekend.
āI wonder if thatās an older share purchase, dating back to a lower interest rate period and smaller Tether market cap,ā mulled Bitcoin pioneer Adam Back, who added, āsounds a bit cheap otherwise given the revenue you can calculate from interest at treasury rates.ā
The WSJ has repeatedly targeted Tether with FUD, its latest in October claiming that the firm was being investigated for failing to comply with AML laws, an accusation that CEO Paolo Ardoino denied, labeling it as regurgitated āold noise.ā
Industry observers have speculated that the targeting of Tether by US financial regulators could be coming to an end under the new pro-crypto administration.
Tether Supply Surges
Tetherās USDT supply has surged more than 10% since the beginning of November to $132.8 billion, giving it a commanding market dominance of 68.5%.
The total stablecoin market cap has surged to a record high of $194 billion, representing 5.5% of the entire crypto market, according to Coingecko.
The post Cantor Fitzgerald to Tap Tether in $2B Bitcoin Lending Project, Secures 5% Stake appeared first on CryptoPotato.
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