Stablecoin issuer Tether has paid about $6.3 million to Nxum, a small consulting firm that Bo Hines co-owned while he led the White House’s work on stablecoin policy, the Wall Street Journal reported on 14 October 2026. TSN has not seen the Journal’s full article, which is paywalled. The details below come from crypto outlet Unchained’s account of the report, and every figure is the Journal’s.
A representative for Nxum denied that Hines received any money from Tether while he was in government.
Who is Bo Hines
Hines was executive director of the White House’s digital assets council, formally the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, according to Unchained. He announced on 9 August 2025 that he was leaving the White House, 22 days after President Trump signed the GENIUS Act, the US stablecoin law. He joined Tether in September 2025 and later led its new US division, Unchained reported.
Nxum is a firm Hines started with his father, Todd Hines, and marketing executive Gary Dennis. According to the Journal, his ethics disclosures show he kept a one-third stake after stepping back from running the company in early 2025.
What the Journal reported
According to the Journal, as relayed by Unchained:
- The total. Nxum “has taken in about $6.3 million” under a marketing deal with Tether.
- The route. Nxum did not sign with Tether directly. The contract went to Notorious, a marketing firm run by Peter Vincer, at $415,000 a month, billed six months at a time over at least two years.
- The first payment. Tether’s first instalment, $2.49 million, left Bitfinex, an exchange under the same parent company as Tether, on 11 May 2025, while Hines was still at the White House. Vincer kept $498,000 and sent the rest to an Nxum wallet, the Journal reported.
- Later payments. After Hines left government, the contract moved to Nxum, and payments of the same size landed in its wallets in December 2025 and April 2026.
The Journal said it traced the money through blockchain records, and that its account is based on messages, internal documents and payment records it reviewed. Unchained said it had not independently verified those records. TSN has not seen them either.
The GENIUS Act compliance window
The Journal also reported, citing people involved in the negotiations, that Hines pressed lawmakers to lengthen the GENIUS Act’s compliance window to 36 months from 18. According to the report, Tether needed more time than its US competitors to comply and was the main beneficiary of the longer period.
The Journal reported, citing Signal messages, that in June 2025 Hines passed talking points to his Nxum partners while they were in contact with Tether chief executive Paolo Ardoino.
Nxum’s denial
A Nxum representative told the Journal that Hines was unaware of, and not involved in, the firm’s Tether business while he was in the White House, according to Unchained. The representative said Hines “did not receive any Tether-derived funds during that period, and had no economic relationship of any kind with Tether while serving in the White House.”
The representative also said “it was not necessary for Tether to enter into any payment arrangements, as it could (and did) simply use the weight of its market position to advocate for an extension of the compliance period.”
Tether did not respond to the Journal’s requests for comment, Unchained reported. A White House official told the paper that Hines no longer works there and that staff are expected to follow federal ethics rules. Unchained said it could not reach Nxum or Hines.
Other payments
The Journal also reported, citing Federal Election Commission records, that the Fellowship PAC, which is linked to Nxum and chaired by Tether’s head of government affairs Jesse Spiro, paid Nxum Group $6.55 million across five payments between January and April 2026, mostly for issue advocacy advertising.
What we don’t know
No regulator or official body has made any finding. It is not known whether any authority will look into the payments, and Hines himself has not commented in the reporting TSN has seen.
What this means
- Serious questions, unproven. The Journal’s reporting links Tether money to a firm Hines part-owned while in office; nothing has been found against anyone.
- A direct denial. Nxum says Hines received no Tether-derived funds while in the White House.
- The GENIUS Act timeline is in focus. The report ties the longer compliance window to Tether’s interests.
Sources
- The Wall Street Journal, Sam Kessler, 14 October 2026 (paywalled; not read directly). https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/crypto-law-trump-tether-bo-hines-45bcd95d
- Unchained, “Tether Payments Reportedly Traced to Bo Hines’ Firm Through a Marketing Middleman”, 15 October 2026. https://unchainedcrypto.com/tether-payments-reportedly-traced-to-bo-hines-firm-through-a-marketing-middleman/
