Update (Oct. 23, 6:27 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a response from Tether.

Senator Richard Blumenthal has requested information from Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino after a Wall Street Journal report said that the stablecoin issuer had inked a $6.3 million deal with a marketing company co-founded by former White House crypto adviser Bo Hines.

In a Thursday letter to Ardoino, the Connecticut lawmaker said that the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, an oversight panel operating under the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, demanded “records and information related to contracts, payments, communications, and lobbying” between Tether and Nxum, Hines’ company. The probe into Nxum, Tether and Hines, according to Blumenthal, was part of what the senator called the Trump administration’s “self-enrichment and self-dealings with cryptocurrency firms.”

“While Hines failed to divest his one-third stake in Nxum [...] he worked closely over encrypted messaging applications with Nxum to coordinate lobbying, advocacy, and browbeating of members of Congress that were opposed to, or had sought changes to, pending stablecoin legislation,” said Blumenthal. “Those messages also reportedly demonstrate that Tether was directly coordinating Nxum’s lobbying efforts on the GENIUS Act which would regulate stablecoins, with CEO Paolo Ardoino demanding that Nxum ‘obliterate’ the legislation’s opponents.”

The lawmaker added:

“The highly unusual terms and nature of Tether’s business relationship with both Nxum and Bo Hines raise alarming 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 with such a direct role in shaping cryptocurrency legislation that was instrumental to its business.”

Hines worked as executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets from January to August 2025, when he left the White House to join Tether as a “strategic adviser.” He later became CEO of Tether US. Harry Jung, another crypto adviser in the Trump administration, left his position in July 2026 and joined Nxum as a managing director in August. That movement between the administration and private crypto businesses sits at the center of the inquiry, since stablecoin rules under consideration in Congress would apply directly to firms like Tether — the commercial stake Blumenthal cites in alleging the lobbying coordination was tied to legislation “instrumental to its business.”

A Tether spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the company was aware of the allegations and that external counsel “found no evidence of wrongdoing” after a previous “in-depth internal investigation into the matter.”

Trump, his family and members of his administration continue to face scrutiny over accusations that they are reaping financial windfalls from crypto policies or laws over which they have control or influence. The president disclosed earning $1.4 billion from investments related to crypto in 2025.

Crypto ties could be a factor in midterm elections

While Blumenthal has limited authority as the Democratic ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, the results of the 2026 midterm elections could potentially change party control in the House of Representatives and Senate. This could give the Connecticut lawmaker and other Democrats additional authority to conduct investigations into Trump and his administration’s ties to the crypto industry, including those which could present conflicts of interest. Committee chairmanships follow majority control, bringing with them the power to compel documents and testimony rather than rely on voluntary responses to requests like Blumenthal’s letter.

As of Friday, event contracts on prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket favored Democrats retaking majority control of both chambers of Congress in 2027, with 92% and 68% chances on Kalshi for the House and Senate, respectively. US Election Day is on Nov. 3.

Source: Cointelegraph