Crypto giant Tether seeks funding at $500 billion valuation

Tether is at the forefront of stablecoins, a type of digital asset that pegs its value to fiat currencies. Its USDT token is tied to the US dollar with a market value of $172 billion

Tether Holdings SA, issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, is in talks with investors to raise as much as $20 billion, a deal that could propel the crypto firm into the highest ranks of the world’s most valuable private companies.

The El Salvador-based company is seeking between $15 billion and $20 billion in exchange for a roughly 3% stake through a private placement, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Another person involved in the process cautioned that those are top-end targets and eventual numbers could be significantly lower. Talks are in early stages and details of the proposed investment may change, said the people, who were not authorized to speak publicly.

Depending on the stake offered, the deal could value the company at around $500 billion, putting it into the same league as OpenAI and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, an extraordinary achievement for the lightly regulated crypto business even as rivals multiply and falling US interest rates threaten its windfall earnings. Its closest direct rival, publicly traded stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group Inc., was worth about $30 billion as of Tuesday afternoon.

The transaction would involve new equity rather than existing investors selling their stakes, said the people. Cantor Fitzgerald is acting as the lead adviser, they added.

Tether’s chief executive officer Paolo Ardoino said the company is evaluating a raise from a group of high-profile investors “to maximize the scale of the Company’s strategy across all existing and new business lines,” including stablecoins, AI, commodity trading, energy, communications and media, in a Wednesday post on X.

A spokesperson for Cantor declined to comment.

Tether is at the forefront of stablecoins, a type of digital asset that pegs its value to fiat currencies. Its USDT token is tied to the US dollar with a market value of $172 billion. It is by far the largest, with Circle’s No. 2-ranked USDC stablecoin worth about $74 billion.

Tether has made a fortune by parking the reserves that back its token in cash-like assets including US Treasuries, and earning interest. It booked $4.9 billion in profit during the second quarter, according to a company blog post in July. Ardoino recently claimed Tether has a 99% profit margin. The figures Tether cites are not subject to the same reporting standards as those disclosed by publicly traded companies.

Tether has spent the last few months laying the groundwork to return to the US, in a bid to capitalize on President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto policies. It recently unveiled a plan for a US-regulated stablecoin and appointed Bo Hines, a former White House crypto official, to lead it.

Tether had been notably absent from the US prior to Trump’s second term, after clashing with regulators. In 2021, the company paid a $41 million fine to settle allegations it had misrepresented its reserves.

Prospective investors have been given access to a data room over the past few weeks to decide whether to participate in the new fundraising, said the people familiar with the matter. They expect the deal to close by the end of the year.