Last month, Paulo Erdino, CEO of Cryptocurrency Company pregnancyHe joined the American business directors and legislators for a special lunch in The Willard, a luxury hotel near the White House.
For years, Tether faced accusations that she lied about her financial resources and allowed the crime to prosper on her platform. But in Williad, Mr. Erdino and other encryption leaders received warmly by Senator Bill Hajari, a fans in Tennessee in the Senate Banking Committee, who attended lunch and participated in a collective discussion about digital currency regulations and national security, according to four people with knowledge of the event.
The episode was a sign of the changing scene of encryption companies like President Trump adopted the industry. Once an operator abroad is a longitudinal with a little public fingerprint in the United States, Tether benefits from the shift to create a presence in Washington.
Since the inauguration of Mr. Trump, Tether has pushed to reshape the encryption regulations because it is considered the start of an operation in the United States. The company’s main product is an encrypted currency known as Stablecoin, which is designed to keep the price of $ 1. Rope to push Congress to influence the Senate Bill, foot This year by Mr. Hajari, determines the rules of Stablecoins. I launched a public relations campaign that included advertisements at the interior of Washington Trumpet Its cooperation with American law enforcement.
For years, Tether has been considered suspicious. that it Stablecoin It has proven that a Popular tool For criminals. In 2021, she paid $ 18.5 million to Settling Investigation of fraud by New York Public Prosecutor.
But within days of assuming his post, Mr. Trump, who started a Encryption With his sons last year, he ended the Biden administration campaign on digital assets. The coding companies that avoided the country one day, for fear of organizational sanctions, are now amazing to Congress and the White House.
No coding executive official explained the transformation more than Mr. Erdino, the Italian who has never visited the United States until this year. On his journey to Washington in March, he met with legislators, joined a forum Hover By the commodity futures trading committee and mixed with their fellow executives in Coinbase, an exchange of encryption.
In recent interviews and social media, Mr. Erdino rose up He throws himself As a simple foreigner, he enjoys a scenic tour of America, and published pictures of himself in the Capitol in the United States and the White House and returns to the Central Park and the Natural History Museum.
“I am very naive,” he said in an interview with the New York Times. “There must be a movie about Italian in New York for the first time at the age of forty.”
Sincerity, Mr. Erdino boasted that the allies are strong. The company’s most prominent business partner is the Kanor Fitzgerald Investment Bank, which has been operated until this year Howard LootnickNow, Mr. Trump Trading Secretary. One of the main pressure groups in Tether is Jeff Miller, A influential figure in the Republican policy from It also represents Cantor Fitzgerald In discussions on the Stablecoin bill.
Mr. Erdino said on his last trip, as he met Zach Wetkov, a leader of Mr. Trump Crypting Company, World Liberty Financial, and the son of the White House envoy to the Middle East. Tether has turned to advice to the monitoring tower strategy, a company for companies for companies that include its founders, Mr. Miller and Keen McCarthy, a former Republican spokesman in the House of Representatives.
“We met Kevin several times,” said Mr. Erdino. “We are in a good relationship.” He did not meet with Mr. Lootnick because “we respect the non -engagement line with Howard while he was in management.”
A representative of Mr. Lootnick did not respond to a request for comment.
In a statement, Mr. Miller described Tether as “The Ultimate American ALY” and said he was “proud to represent them.” A spokesman for Mr. Hajari said that Senator attended lunch in March “to talk about digital assets and Nix of National Security.”
Even in the world of wild encryption, the story of Tether is highlighted by its characters from the characters. The company was founded 11 years ago by a former child representative, Brock Pears. Mr. Pears and a commercial partner later handed over control of the company to Giancarlo Devasini, an Italian who used to work as a plastic surgeon.
Now encryption BillionaireMr. Davasini life In Switzerland, you rarely speak publicly. During most of the past decade, Mr. Erdino, a former program developer who joined a subsidiary of the rope 2014I worked as a general face of the company.
The Tether product is designed to treat a major defect in traditional cryptocurrencies, which is constantly swinging in value, making it uncomfortable for use in payments and other standard transactions. Since Stablecoins keeps $ 1, many encryption investors prefer to use trading.
In many ways, Tether and other exporters work like banks. The trader deposits $ 500 and receives 500 stablecoins; The source generates revenues by investing part of these deposits and maintaining any returns for itself. But the system does not work unless the source has $ 1 in the reserve for each currency that you send to trading, allowing customers to recover their holdings at any time.
For years, critics of Tether Indicate The money he holds in the reserve will be insufficient To cover a redemption mutation. When the New York Prosecutor’s Office announced the settlement of 2021, He said Tether lied about the formation of its reserves and described the cryptocurrency as “Stablecoin without stability.”
“The reputation of Tether must be concerned with everyone,” said actor Maxine Waters in California, the best democratic for the Financial Services Committee in the House of Representatives.
Still, tether over and over again Breulet shrinkage. The company is now publishing Auditing operations Among its accounts, which turned out that nearly two -thirds of its reserves, or about 94 billion dollars, are invested in the US Treasury’s bills.
Last year, tether Record The profits of more than $ 13 billion, making it one of the richest encryption operations in the world. In December, that I invested 775 million dollars in Rumble, a right -wing flow platform that has worked closely with the Trump Media & Technology Group, the president’s social media company. also Plans to unveil it To build a headquarters called Tether Tower in El Salvador.
The strongest US ally is Mr. Lootnick. Cantor Fitzgerarald holds billions of dollars in Tether bonds in the United States, giving the encryption company shine from the prevailing credibility. At Bitcoin last summer, Mr. Lutnick told the crowd that he could personally confirm that Tether currencies were fully supported.
“We found every penny”, it is He said In this event.
After confirming Mr. Lootnick as Minister of Trade, he is Turn Control of Cantor Fitzgerald for his children. Cantor Fitzgerland and Tether are now working with Mr. Miller, pressure groups, to form Stablecoin bases in Washington, according to Pressure Shapes. The edition of the Senate of Stablecoin Legislation, the Genius Act, is guided by American exporters to ensure the preservation of appropriate reserves.
But the legislation is officially directed and established the national innovation of the American Stablecoins Law, which includes a condition that allows foreign exporters to sell their coins without following the new rules as long as they complied with law enforcement requests. In a rear session of the Banking Committee, Democratic Senators criticized this item, describing it as a “giant loophole” to help in expression.
“My Republican colleagues seem to be concerned about facing a violent reaction from a close friend of Donald Trump and a trade secretary in our nation,” Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat Massachusetts, He said At the session.
In the end, the banking committee voice To push the bill to the full Senate.
In the interview, Mr. Erdino said he was “very excited” to see the language in the genius law that requires cooperation with law enforcement, because his company is already working closely with the American authorities. He said Tether is considering opening an American arm and providing “local stablecoin” designed for financial institutions.
Mr. Erdino plans to return to the United States frequently. Washington described “very clean”, although he had food reservations. He said he is enjoying the possibility of challenging American encryption companies on their soil.
Mr. Erdino said: “How would that be fun,” said Mr. Erdino.
