Tether Influence on US Crypto Law
Tether is facing mounting scrutiny over its lobbying influence on U.S. stablecoin legislation and its controversial role as a backstop for U.S. debt.
A court filing and related reporting allege that Tether benefited from and influenced the drafting of the first US crypto law through Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Bo Hines, raising documented concerns about the integrity of stablecoin regulatory rail legislation.
GENIUS Act: the three-year grace period didn't write itself
Bo Hines, then running the White House crypto council, reportedly told Senate negotiators that Tether's preferred three-year window to comply with US anti-money-laundering rules was non-negotiable for the White House. The Democrats pushed for eighteen months. The three-year provision survived. Hines was subsequently hired by Tether.
That sequence is a description of an adviser negotiating the terms of a law, then going to work for the company that benefited from those terms.
The same reporting documents that Cantor Fitzgerald obtained a discounted stake in Tether, Tether invested in a Trump-linked media company, and the company gave a loan to a trust benefiting Commerce Secretary Lutnick's family - ties that surfaced before or shortly after the law passed.
Tether and the White House say it was all lawful and standard. But lawful and not corrupt aren't the same thing - and the extra eighteen months of breathing room on anti-money-laundering compliance is real, whatever you call the process that produced it.
2 sources
- Tether Benefited as Howard Lutnick, Bo Hines Shaped First US Crypto Law · bloomberg.com · T1
- Tether allegedly influenced US legislation through Howard Lutnick, court filing says · cryptobriefing.com · T2