tether

#tether $tether

Recent secondary market transactions reveal that stablecoin giant Tether may now be valued as high as $375 billion, potentially vaulting its secretive owners into the highest ranks of the world’s richest.
Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, is trading on secondary markets in a range of $350 billion to $375 billion, according to industry sources. Though this is below the $500 billion maximum target the company was seeking for its fundraise first reported by Bloomberg in September, the amount is still large enough to catapult its top executives into the top ranks among world billionaires.
Tether did not respond to Forbes’ request for comment by press time. SoftBank and Ark Invest have previously been mentioned as potential participants in Tether’s fundraise, but a source familiar with the matter told Forbes that SoftBank is not an investor in Tether. ETF manager Ark Invest, founded by Cathie Wood, did not respond to a request for comment.
Earlier reports suggested the El Salvador-based crypto juggernaut was initially seeking up to $20 billion for roughly 3% of the business, but its advisers later floated raising as little as $5 billion after encountering investor hesitation, according to the Financial Times.
For now, based on conversations with crypto investors and executives, Forbes is valuing Tether at roughly $200 billion—still far above the $50 billion estimate assigned to the company one year ago. That valuation would also create a windfall for Cantor Fitzgerald, putting its 5% stake at $10 billion, up from a reported $600 million in 2023.
Last year, CEO Paolo Ardoino said Tether was building its own artificial intelligence platform, alongside new data, energy and education divisions. It has also built sizable positions in commodities and crypto—about $23 billion in gold and $6.4 billion in bitcoin. Separately, Tether’s venture portfolio spans more than 120 companies and is worth over $10 billion, including a recent $200 million investment in internet marketplace Whop.com and a $775 million bet on video platform Rumble in 2024. Ardoino has also claimed his company has a 99% profit margin with a staff of about 300 employees.
But Tether is facing increasing competition in stablecoins. Besides Circle with its popular USDC stablecoin, Stripe and crypto venture firm Paradigm recently unveiled a new blockchain for stablecoin payments called Tempo, with partners that include UBS, Deutsche Bank, OpenAI and Anthropic. Meta, which spent years pursuing its own stablecoin project, Libra, is also plotting a return. CoinDesk reported its plans to support stablecoin-backed payments and implement a new wallet later this year.

Tether Investments has announced a strategic investment in Whop, the world’s largest internet marketplace for digital creators, as part of its effort to expand the real-world use of stablecoins across the global internet economy.

The partnership will integrate Tether’s USD-pegged stablecoins—including USD₮ and USA₮—directly into Whop’s platform, enabling millions of users to send and receive payments faster and at lower cost compared to traditional payment systems. This is particularly impactful in regions with limited banking access or expensive cross-border transactions.

As part of the collaboration, Whop will implement Tether’s Wallet Development Kit (WDK), giving creators and users self-custodial wallets with full control over their funds. The integration also supports seamless on-chain payments and lays the groundwork for future decentralized finance features such as lending and borrowing.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the investment aligns with the company’s strategy to embed stablecoins into everyday economic activity, improving financial inclusion and providing scalable financial infrastructure on digital platforms.

Currently, Whop serves over 18.4 million users worldwide, with creators collectively earning about $3 billion annually. The platform has seen strong growth, with gross transaction volume rising 25% month over month, highlighting the demand for efficient digital payment solutions.

Whop CEO Steven Schwartz emphasized that the partnership will accelerate the company’s mission to create a global internet marketplace where creators can earn and transact instantly, regardless of location or currency. The investment will also support Whop’s international expansion across Latin America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, while helping develop new financial infrastructure and AI-powered tools for online income opportunities.

With more than 530 million users across Tether’s ecosystem and over $180 billion in issued stablecoins, this collaboration is expected to strengthen stablecoin adoption and enable faster digital dollar payments for the rapidly growing global creator economy.

#BinanceSquare #Tether #Sanka_bro

#Tether </tether
PARIS, 27. Feb (Reuters) - Der in El Salvador ansässige Stablecoin-Emittent Tether gab bekannt, dass er etwa 4,2 Milliarden Dollar seiner Krypto-Tokens aufgrund von Verbindungen zu "illegitimen Aktivitäten" eingefroren hat, hauptsächlich in den letzten drei Jahren, da die Behörden weltweit versuchen, gegen Krypto-kriminalität vorzugehen.
Das weltweit größte Stablecoin-Unternehmen, das mehr als 180 Milliarden Dollar seines an den Dollar gebundenen Tokens im Umlauf hat, gegenüber rund 70 Milliarden Dollar vor drei Jahren, kann auf Anfrage der Strafverfolgungsbehörden seine Tokens in den Krypto-Wallets der Nutzer aus der Ferne einfrieren.

hat in eine strategische Investition getätigt in

eine Plattform für die Kreatoreneconomie mit 18,4 Millionen Nutzern, mit dem Ziel, sein Wallet Development Kit zu integrieren und nahtlose

Zahlungen über digitale Marktplätze zu ermöglichen.Whop verarbeitet jährlich etwa 3 Milliarden Dollar an Auszahlungen, und die Partnerschaft zielt auf schnellere globale Abrechnungen in LATAM, Europa und APAC ohne traditionelle Bankfriktionen ab.Die Integration wird voraussichtlich Stablecoin-Zahlungen und DeFi-Tools direkt in Kreatoren-Stores einbetten, wodurch als Infrastruktur für internetnative Handelsaktivitäten positioniert wird, während die grenzüberschreitende Nachfrage wächst.