By Bloomberg

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Tether Holdings, issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, is in talks with investors to raise as much as US$20 billion, a deal that could propel the cryptocurrency firm into the highest ranks of the world’s most valuable private companies.
The El Salvador-based company is seeking between US$15 billion and US$20 billion in exchange for a roughly 3 per cent stake through a private placement, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Another person involved in the process cautioned that those are top-end targets and eventual numbers could be significantly lower. Talks are in early stages and details of the proposed investment may change, according to the people, who were not authorised to speak publicly.
Depending on the stake offered, the deal could value Tether at around US$500 billion, putting it into the same league as OpenAI and Elon Musk’s SpaceX – an extraordinary achievement for the lightly regulated cryptocurrency business – even as rivals multiply and falling US interest rates threaten its windfall earnings.
Tether’s closest direct rival, publicly traded stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group, was worth about US$30 billion as of Tuesday afternoon.
The fundraising by Tether would involve new equity rather than existing investors selling their stakes, said the people. Cantor Fitzgerald is acting as the lead adviser, they added.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the company is evaluating a raise from a group of high-profile investors “to maximise the scale of the company’s strategy across all existing and new business lines” – including stablecoins, artificial intelligence, commodity trading, energy, communications and media – in a Wednesday post on X.
A representative for Cantor declined to comment.
Tether is at the forefront of stablecoins, a type of digital asset that pegs its value to fiat currencies. Its USDT token is tied to the US dollar with a market value of US$172 billion. It is by far the largest, with Circle’s No 2 ranked USDC stablecoin worth about US$74 billion.
Tether has made a fortune by parking the reserves that back its token in cash-like assets including US Treasuries and earning interest. It booked US$4.9 billion in profit during the second quarter, according to a company blog post in July.
CEO Ardoino recently claimed that Tether has a 99 per cent profit margin. The figures Tether cited are not subject to the same reporting standards as those disclosed by publicly traded companies.
Tether has spent the last few months laying the groundwork to return to the US, in a bid to capitalise on President Donald Trump’s pro-cryptocurrency policies. It recently unveiled a plan for a US-regulated stablecoin and appointed Bo Hines, a former White House crypto official, to lead it.
Tether had been notably absent from the US before Trump’s second term, after clashing with regulators. In 2021, the company paid a US$41 million fine to settle allegations it had misrepresented its reserves.
Prospective investors have been given access to a data room over the past few weeks to decide whether to take part in the new fundraising, according to people familiar with the matter. They expect the deal to close by the end of this year.