Tether in Talks to Support Cantor Fitzgerald’s Planned Bitcoin Lending Program: WSJ

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Howard Lutnick, president of Wall Street trading steadfast Cantor Fitzgerald, is successful discussions with Tether's Giancarlo Devasini astir Cantor’s multi-billion dollar programme that volition let clients to get wealth utilizing bitcoin arsenic collateral, the Wall Street Journal reported connected Sunday.

First announced successful July, the lending inaugural volition commencement with $2 cardinal successful funds, which could yet turn to tens of billions of dollars. Tether’s imaginable inclusion successful the task signals a deepening of the narration betwixt the stablecoin issuer and the trading firm.

Cantor — which has been the custodian for Tether’s U.S. Treasuries since 2021 — has besides acquired a 5% involvement successful Tether, which issues the USDT stablecoin, worthy astir $600 million, according to the aforesaid report.

Tether operates the world’s astir wide utilized stablecoin. Referenced to the U.S. dollar, it has a marketplace headdress of $132.76 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

But the token has drawn scrutiny for its usage by illicit actors, including those progressive successful scams, wealth laundering and sanctions evasion. Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported Tether was nether probe successful the U.S. for imaginable violations of sanctions and anti-money laundering rules.

Tether branded the study “irresponsible” and accused detractors of glossing implicit its past of moving with instrumentality enforcement and its efforts to ace down connected misuse.

Under the Biden administration, respective cryptocurrency firms faced regulatory crackdowns. Trump’s medication has indicated it volition reverse course, with the president-elect and his household having launched respective cryptocurrency projects, astir precocious World Liberty Financial.

Within Trump’s ellipse are respective crypto advocates including Lutnick himself, who has taken connected a cardinal relation successful Trump’s team. He is presently serving arsenic co-chair of the modulation squad and past week became Trump’s prime to lead the U.S.Department of Commerce, a relation that would presumption him to power the U.S. crypto landscape.

Lutnick said past week that if his presumption is confirmed helium volition measurement down from Cantor, arsenic good arsenic his positions astatine BGC and Newmark.

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