Lutnick’s Cantor in talks with Tether about a $2 billion BTC lending project
Howard Lutnick is looking to strengthen his alliance with one of the most important and controversial names in the digital asset industry: Tether Holdings.
Lutnick is in talks to deepen financial ties between his companies and the company behind the world’s largest stablecoin, according to people familiar with the matter.
Cantor Fitzgerald LP is discussing Tether’s support for its planned multibillion-dollar program to lend dollars to customers who put up Bitcoin as collateral, said the people, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Funding for the program will start at $2 billion (about Rs. 16,853 crore) and is expected to eventually run into tens of billions, a separate person told Bloomberg.
Tether currently uses Cantor’s custody operations to hold the billions of dollars in U.S. Treasury bonds that underpin the value of its dominant USDT stablecoin. That custody relationship earns Cantor tens of millions of dollars a year, according to people familiar with the matter.
Lutnick is co-chair of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team and Trump’s pick to lead the Commerce Department.
Trump has recently been an outspoken supporter of digital assets such as Bitcoin, and has promoted a crypto project linked to his sons called World Liberty Financial. The Trump transition team is considering whether to create a new post in the White House for crypto policy, Bloomberg previously reported.
Although Cantor has been trying to recruit staff to launch the program, it has not yet formally started making loans. If Tether joins in, the crypto company would likely be one of several financial contributors, one of the people said.
A spokeswoman for Cantor declined to comment. Executives at Tether were not immediately available for comment outside normal business hours.
Tether has faced criticism from governments, including the US, over possible violations of sanctions and anti-money laundering rules. The company has denied the claims.
Lutnick’s company has also struck a deal to invest in Tether, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, adding that Cantor’s stake is valued at as much as $600 million (about Rs. 5,056 crore) and amounts to an ownership stake of about five percent.
As Lutnick moves to lead the Commerce Department, he is preparing to hand over his company’s relationship with Tether, which he largely controls, to colleagues, according to two people briefed on the matter. His son, Brandon Lutnick, works at Cantor as a trader and previously interned at Tether in Lugano, Switzerland.
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