Tether news

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino claimed that 650 million users have decentralized ownership of US debt through USDT holdings, but the company's own documents show that Tether International owns and controls the reserve assets, including $114.961 billion in direct US Treasury bills as of June 30. USDT holders own transferable tokens, not the underlying Treasuries, and are not entitled to gains above face value. Direct redemption is limited to verified customers with a $100,000 minimum and fees, while the 650 million figure is Tether's own estimate, not an independently verified count of unique users. While the Treasury exposure is real and large, the legal and economic structure remains issuer-mediated, with Tether retaining control over reserves and portfolio composition.

Tether and Fasanara Capital have launched StableFund, a private-credit vehicle with $400 million in sponsor capital and plans to raise up to $3 billion from institutional investors. The fund will be managed by Fasanara, with Tether providing USDT-linked origination, settlement, and treasury infrastructure. This move extends Tether's credit operations beyond the crypto lending market, where it controls about 60% of the $23 billion sector, into the $3 trillion private-credit market. The launch comes as the private-credit industry faces rising defaults, which hit five-year highs at major funds like Blue Owl, and increasing scrutiny from regulators like the Financial Stability Board. The fund will invest in short-duration, asset-backed loans across a fintech network spanning over 60 countries. Key details remain undisclosed, including Tether's share of losses, underwriting authority, leverage, fees, and redemption terms.

Tether and Fasanara Capital have launched StableFund, a private credit fund with $400 million in initial backing, targeting up to $3 billion from institutional investors. The fund will provide short-term, asset-backed loans to small businesses and consumers through fintech lenders across 60+ countries. Tether will source USDT-linked lending opportunities and provide stablecoin infrastructure for cross-border fund movement. This marks Tether's expansion beyond stablecoin issuance into traditional finance, building on its ventures in payments, AI, and telecom. CEO Paolo Ardoino highlighted Tether's role in enabling seamless cross-border lending.

Tether and London-based asset manager Fasanara Capital have launched StableFund, a private credit fund with $400 million in initial backing, aiming to raise up to $3 billion from institutional investors. The evergreen fund will use Tether's USDT as settlement infrastructure for short-duration, asset-backed lending to small and medium-sized businesses and consumers via fintech platforms across more than 60 countries. Fasanara will manage the fund's investments, while Tether will source USDT-linked financing opportunities. This move expands Tether's capital deployment beyond its core stablecoin business, following recent investments in Argentine neobank Ualá, Mercado Bitcoin, Juventus FC, and AI sleep technology firm Eight Sleep. Tether reported $187.8 billion in assets and $4.11 billion in reserve buffer at the end of June.

Tether and Fasanara Capital have launched StableFund, a $400 million private credit fund that will deploy capital through Fasanara's global fintech lending network. The firms plan to raise up to $3 billion more from institutional investors. Fasanara will act as investment manager, focusing on short-duration, asset-backed credit strategies, while Tether will source USDT-linked financing opportunities and provide stablecoin settlement infrastructure for cross-border capital movement. The fund will integrate USDT into SME and consumer lending across fintech platforms in over 60 countries. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the initiative turns Tether's origination network into a direct channel for capital, and Fasanara CEO Francesco Filia emphasized more efficient cross-border credit flows.

Tether and Fasanara Capital have launched StableFund, a private credit vehicle seeded with $400 million and targeting up to $3 billion from institutional investors. The fund aims to use USDT settlement infrastructure to speed up lending to small and medium-sized enterprises and consumers, focusing on short-duration, asset-backed credit. Fasanara will manage the fund, deploying capital through its network of 141 fintech lending originators across 60 countries. Tether will provide USDT-linked settlement infrastructure and handle cross-border capital flows, enabling faster loan disbursements and repayments compared to traditional SWIFT transfers. The fund targets the global SME financing gap, estimated at $5.7 trillion, and leverages the growing private credit market. For Tether, this move expands its real-economy ambitions and positions it as a credible institutional counterparty. However, investors face risks including counterparty exposure to Tether, regulatory uncertainty across jurisdictions, and operational novelty of crypto-native settlement.

Tether, the company behind the world's largest stablecoin, is developing Hypersearch, a fully decentralized peer-to-peer search engine. Built on distributed hash table (DHT) architecture, specifically Kademlia DHT and Tether's HyperDHT infrastructure, it distributes both the index and search process across thousands of nodes, eliminating the need for a central server. CEO Paolo Ardoino announced the project on April 7, 2026, and a working demo of a P2P Wikipedia search engine was demonstrated on May 14. Hypersearch is part of Tether's broader push into privacy-focused software, alongside its encrypted messaging app Keet and password manager PearPass. The project remains in early-stage development with no public beta or whitepaper, though the codebase is open-source. Tether is actively recruiting engineers with expertise in P2P networking and related technologies.

Tether-backed Chilean crypto exchange Orionx is shutting down and has frozen withdrawals after a forensic audit found over $7 million in customer assets moved to wallets outside its control. The exchange, which received Tether investment in June 2025, said it halted withdrawals to ensure fair treatment of all customers during its permanent closure. Chile's financial regulator, the CMF, said it cannot oversee the wind-down or compel Orionx to repay assets because the exchange was never registered or authorized under the country's Fintech Act. Customers must rely on Orionx's restitution process or court action, with the closure tracker still at its first of five stages and no repayment date disclosed. Orionx has filed a criminal complaint against former executives, but responsibility for the missing funds has not been established. The exchange must reconcile balances, determine available assets, and approve a distribution plan before any returns, leaving recovery uncertain.

Blockchain security firm Hacken found that about $91.3 billion in USDT on the Tron network is controlled by a 2-of-3 multisig wallet with no built-in delays or timelocks, meaning an attacker with two signing keys could seize control of the contract to mint tokens, freeze addresses, or reassign ownership. Hacken found no evidence of compromised keys or prior incidents but warned that reused signing keys could extend risks across Ethereum, Avalanche, and Celo. Despite this low technical security score of 3.3 out of 10, rating agency Bluechip upgraded Tether's corporate grade to C from D after a KPMG audit showed reserves exceeded liabilities by $6.8 billion. This is the first rating under Bluechip's new SMIDGE methodology, which combines financial audits with Hacken's on-chain technical review. The audit addresses a key condition for the upgrade, though analysts note the underlying architecture risks remain.

Chilean crypto exchange Orionx has announced its permanent closure after a forensic audit uncovered a custody shortfall of over $7 million in customer assets. The Santiago-based exchange, backed by Tether, suspended all withdrawals on September 3, affecting more than 100,000 registered users. The audit revealed discrepancies between user account balances and on-chain wallet holdings, with missing funds in Bitcoin, Ether, XRP, and Polygon's POL moved to external addresses without authorization. Orionx has filed criminal complaints against co-founders Joaquin Diaz and Roberto Zibert, along with other former employees, over alleged unauthorized transfers occurring between 2018 and 2021. Both have denied wrongdoing. The exchange has proposed a phased restitution plan but cannot guarantee full recovery. Tether was the sole investor in Orionx's Series A round in June 2025, and Chile's financial regulator rejected the exchange's license application on June 19, 2026, noting it never operated under the country's Fintech Law.