Tether paid Bo Hines’ company while he was at White House, WSJ

Before Bo Hines became chief executive officer of Tether-backed stablecoin USAT, he was President Donald Trump’s executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets.

While he was serving the president and working to advance stablecoin legislation, Tether — the world’s largest stablecoin — was reportedly partnering with Nxum Capital, an investment and consulting firm that Hines started with his father.

According to reporting from The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), “Nxum has earned $6.3 million” from the deal to help create a “strategic brand and public affairs plan” for Tether.

This money was apparently sent via Tether sister fund, Bitfinex, to Notorious, a firm led by Peter Vincer, who then forwarded the lion’s share of the funds to Nxum.

The report claims that Tether sent its first $2.49 million payment from Bitfinex to Vincer on May 11, 2025. Vincer kept $498,000 and sent the rest to a Nxum wallet, where it was split three ways.

On May 11, 2025, 0x77134cbC06cB00b66F4c7e623D5fdBF6777635EC, an address labeled as “Bitfinex: Hot Wallet” on Etherscan, sent $2.49 million in USDT to 0x4b3e4956a5Bf253Cf28f8cf9b9F71BfD100E98Fd across two transactions, with the $1 test transaction actually occurring the day before.

Following this, all but $498,000 was transferred to 0xA6078664175FCfb093989EC778C03FAe58170814.

The funds were then, according to WSJ, split three ways. We cannot be absolutely certain these are the same transactions, but they do match the details we know so far.

Vincer apparently told WSJ that he was the intermediary for the deal, and after Hines left the White House, the contract was transferred directly to Nxum.

A Nxum representative told WSJ that Hines “did not receive any Tether-derived funds during that period, and had no economic relationship of any kind with Tether while serving in the White House.”

While in the White House, Hines was apparently still exchanging Signal messages with his company partners. He shared details about the Genius Act with Nxum leaders who were working with Tether.

Read more: Tether took over the White House, now it’s tearing it down to build a ballroom

Nxum has been involved in politics as well, supporting the Fellowship PAC.

This super PAC is chaired by Jesse Spiro, Tether’s head of government affairs. It’s raised $11 million dollars, with $10 million coming from Tether custodian Cantor Fitzgerald, the firm previously led by Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick.

The remaining funds came from Anchor Labs, Inc., a firm associated with Anchorage Digital, the bank behind USAT.

This super PAC has paid out $11 million to Nxum, though there was also a $300,000 refund.

The GENIUS Act was eventually signed into law in July 2025, with Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino appearing at the White House to signal his support. The next month Hines announced he was leaving the White House.

The month after that, it was announced that Hines would be leading USAT, with Tether referencing his entrepreneurial history as a motivator.

Protos reached out to Tether for comment (and attempted to reach out to Nxum, but its previous contact email is now undeliverable), but it did not immediately respond.

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