Tether’s Potential $20B Funding Round Could Draw SoftBank, Ark as Backers

SoftBank and Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment may be interested in investing in a multibillion-dollar funding round for stablecoin issuer Tether USDT, Bloomberg reported Friday.” The two investors, both longstanding technology financiers, are among several high-profile names who are in early talks to provide funds to the world’s biggest stablecoin issuer in its largest search yet for external capital,” the outlet said, citing anonymous sources.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported Tether is in talks with investors to raise as much as $20 billion at around a $500 billion valuation, which would make the crypto company one of the most valuable private companies in the world, potentially rivaling the likes of OpenAI and SpaceX. Cantor Fitzgerald, said to be a Tether shareholder, is advising the potential deal, the report said.

Companies, investors, and advisors will often leak information about potential deals in order to signal interest or gauge market reaction. SoftBank, Cantor Fitzgerald, and Tether are partners in the Bitcoin treasury firm Twenty One Capital. The company launched with $3.6 billion in bitcoin on its balance sheet, making it, at the time, the third-largest holder of bitcoin among publicly traded companies.

El Salvador-based Tether is the world’s largest stablecoin issuer with a supply of $173 billion of USDT tokens. The company recently announced plans to launch a USD-pegged stablecoin for the U.S. market. Bo Hines, CEO of Tether’s newly-created U.S. unit, said at a conference in Seoul this week that the stablecoin firm “has no plans to raise money.”

Terron Gold