Tether Plans to Support Cantor Fitzgerald’s Bitcoin Lending Program

The lending initiative, announced in July, will be implemented with an initial fund of $2 billion and may grow to tens of billions of dollars in the future. The possibility of Tether’s involvement in the project indicates that the relationship between the stablecoin issuer and the trading firm is deepening.

Cantor has been Tether’s custodian of US Treasury bills since 2021. At the same time, Cantor owns a 5% stake in Tether, worth approximately $600 million. According to CoinMarketCap data, the total market value of USDT, which is indexed to the US dollar, is at the level of 132.76 billion dollars.

However, USDT is frequently the target of criticism due to its use in illegal activities such as fraud, money laundering and sanctions evasion. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Tether was under investigation in the United States for possible violations of sanctions and anti-money laundering rules.

Tether, on the other hand, stated that the published news was written “irresponsibly” and claimed that critics ignored the company’s history of cooperation with law enforcement and its efforts to prevent abuse.

While many cryptocurrency companies came under regulatory pressure during the Biden administration, the Trump administration stated that it would reverse this approach. Trump and his family have launched many cryptocurrency initiatives, including a project called World Liberty Financial.

Howard Lutnick is among the cryptocurrency advocates around Trump. Lutnick is currently co-chairman of Trump’s new team, and last week it was rumored that he would head the Department of Commerce. This role will put Lutnick in a position to significantly influence the US cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Lutnick announced that he would resign from his positions at Cantor, BGC and Newmark if his position was approved.