Tether teams up with Rumble to launch USAT stablecoin in US

Tether Holdings SA will partner with video gaming streaming platform Rumble Inc. to expand adoption of its newly launched USAT stablecoin in the United States, executives announced Wednesday at the Token2049 conference in Singapore.

Speaking at the conference earlier today, Chief Executive Paolo Ardoino told the audience that Rumble will launch a Tether-powered crypto wallet featuring USAT and other stablecoins, scheduled for release later this year.

“Rumble has 51 million active users per month,” Ardoino said. “That is already a huge amount of users if you compare it to what the competition has now in the United States.”

According to Bloomberg data, Tether holds a 48% stake in Rumble, having invested $775 million in 2024. The deal gave Tether significant influence over the YouTube rival, which Americans have dubbed a conservative-leaning alternative to mainstream platforms.

USAT stablecoin was launched for American users

According to the USDT issuer, USAT is a dollar-backed stablecoin created for the US market, specifically because it complies with American regulatory standards.

Bo Hines, a former Executive Director of the White House Crypto Council under President Donald Trump, was appointed CEO of USAT. The team will be based in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Hines has political roots.

Tether has long profited from investing the reserves backing its flagship USDT stablecoin into US Treasuries and similar assets. In the second quarter, the El Salvador-based company reported $4.9 billion in profit, according to a July blog post from the company.

USDT is the largest stablecoin in circulation, with a supply of $174.6 billion, per data from CoinGecko. Its main rival, Circle’s USDC, trails as the second-largest digital dollar but has more influence and ties to US crypto exchanges like Coinbase.

Tether’s acquisition of Rumble shares in December 2024 secured nearly half the company. Rumble used $250 million of the proceeds to support growth initiatives, while the rest funded a self-tender offer for up to 70 million shares of Class A stock at $7.50 each, the same price as Tether’s investment.

Rumble’s founder and CEO, Chris Pavlovski, maintained his controlling stake after the Tether agreement. “Tether is the perfect partner that can put a rocket pack on the back of Rumble as we prepare for our next phase of growth,” Pavlovski said.

US stablecoin market heats up, Tether makes more investments

The stablecoin sector has grown exponentially since the passage of the GENIUS Act in July, which established a federal framework for dollar-backed stablecoins. The legislation, championed and signed into law by President Trump, has encouraged private issuers to expand operations in the country.

After years of absence from the US due to sanctions, Tether’s return to the US saw it pay a $41 million fine to settle allegations that it misrepresented its reserves. 

Cryptopolitan had reported that Tether is seeking to raise up to $20 billion through the sale of a 3% stake. According to a Bloomberg exclusive, the offering could value the company at nearly $500 billion, pitting it against some of the world’s largest private firms like Elon Musk’s SpaceX and ChatGPT parent company OpenAI.

One source close to the discussions insisted that talks are still at an early stage, and final details, including the size of the stake, could change. A few hours after the news broke, Ardoino took to his X account to say the “key investors” were involved and the “valuation is a discount,” without elaborating on the math.

According to CEO Ardoino, the proceeds from a potential capital raise could support Tether’s ambitions in artificial intelligence. The company is reportedly hiring dozens of specialists to build an AI platform capable of running on low-cost smartphones.

The project includes an offline language-translation app powered by AI agents to be used in developing regions with limited internet connectivity, particularly in Africa and South America.

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