Senator Richard Blumenthal has requested information from Tether CEO Paolo Arduino after the Wall Street Journal reported that the stablecoin issuer had struck a $6.3 million deal with a marketing company co-founded by former White House crypto adviser Bo Hines.
In a letter Thursday to Connecticut lawmaker Arduino said That the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations requested “records and information related to contracts, payments, communications and lobbying” between Hines’ company Tether and Nxum. According to Blumenthal, the investigation into Nxum, Tether and Hines was part of what the senator called the Trump administration’s “self-enrichment and self-dealing with cryptocurrency firms.”
“While Hines failed to contribute one-third of his stake in Nxum (…) he worked closely with Nxum on encrypted messaging applications to coordinate lobbying, advocacy, and browbeating of members of Congress who were opposed to, or seeking to change, stablecoin legislation.” Blument said. “Those messages also allegedly show that Tether was directly coordinating Nxum’s lobbying efforts on the GENIUS Act that would regulate stablecoins, with CEO Paolo Ardoino calling for Nxum to ‘wipe out’ opponents of the legislation.”
The lawmaker added:
“The highly unusual terms and nature of Tether’s business relationship with both Nxum and Bo Hines raise serious ethical and legal concerns, indicating that Tether was likely well aware of the illegality and impropriety of issuing payments to a current White House official who had a direct role in shaping cryptocurrency legislation for his business.”
Hines served as executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors on Digital Assets from January to August 2025, when he left the White House to join Tether as a “strategic advisor.” He later became the CEO of Tether US. Harry Jung, another crypto advisor in the Trump administration, left his post in July 2026 and joined Nxum as managing director in August.
Related: Trump did not mention ‘crypto’ once at the White House Cybercrime Roundtable.
Trump, his family and members of his administration face scrutiny over allegations that they are taking financial losses from crypto policies over laws they control or influence. The president revealed that he expects to earn $1.4 billion in 2025 from crypto-related investments.
Cointelegraph reached out to Tether for comment on the investigation and report but did not immediately receive a response.
Crypto ties could be a factor in midterm elections.
While Blumenthal has limited powers as the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, the results of the 2026 midterm elections could potentially change party control in the House and Senate. That could give Connecticut lawmakers and other Democrats additional authority to investigate Trump and his administration’s ties to the crypto industry, including those that could present a conflict of interest.
As of Friday, event contracts on prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket liked Democrats regain majority control of both houses of Congress in 2027, with 92% and 68% chances on the ballot for the House and Senate, respectively. US Election Day is November 3rd.
Magazine: New DeepSec ban in US, Swiss-Asia crypto ties deepen: Asia Express
