Tether Paid a Firm Owned by a Former White House Crypto Official, WSJ

A Wall Street Journal investigation alleges Tether paid roughly $6.3 million to a consulting firm partly owned by Bo Hines while he was a senior White House cryptocurrency official. Hines helped advance the GENIUS Act, which carries major implications for Tether, before leaving government to become the stablecoin issuer's U.S. chief executive. The report raises conflict-of-interest and regulatory-capture concerns around the largest stablecoin issuer, a headline risk traders may weigh against USDT's role as core market collateral.