Tether

Tether is the issuer of USDT, the world's largest stablecoin by market capitalisation and daily trading volume. Founded in 2014 and incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, Tether processes several hundred billion dollars in monthly transaction volume and is the dominant vehicle for crypto trading across exchanges that lack direct banking access. Its opacity has been a persistent concern: a 2021 settlement with the New York Attorney General found Tether had misrepresented its reserves, and it paid an $18.5 million fine without admitting wrongdoing. Tether is not registered as a US company, but its executives are US-resident and it operates across US-regulated markets.

Tether's US subsidiary executive Jesse Spiro chairs Fellowship PAC, a crypto political action committee claiming a $100 million war chest for the 2026 US midterms. Q1 2026 FEC filings showed only $11 million in receipts against that claim, with the largest disclosed spend being $1.75 million supporting Ken Paxton against the NRSC-backed incumbent John Cornyn in the Texas Republican Senate primary — a direct intervention against the Republican establishment.

Tether's USDT token is the primary stablecoin on the TRON blockchain. During the 2026 Iran conflict, OFAC added two TRON wallet addresses to the Central Bank of Iran's SDN entry — the first time blockchain addresses were attached to an Iranian state institution — making USDT flows to Iranian counterparties an active US sanctions enforcement target. In the UK, Tether gained indirect political salience through Christopher Harborne's reported shareholding: Harborne is Reform UK's principal donor, and the Standards Commissioner investigation opened in May 2026 connects Harborne, Farage, and Reform UK's Cryptocurrency fundraising into a single regulatory story.

Tether's US subsidiary executive Jesse Spiro chairs Fellowship PAC, a crypto political action committee that publicly claims a $100 million war chest for the 2026 midterms. The Q1 2026 FEC filing showed only $11 million in receipts, leaving $89 million unaccounted. Post-Q1, Fellowship disclosed $3 million in independent expenditures, with the largest buy being $1.75 million supporting Ken Paxton against NRSC-backed incumbent John Cornyn in the Texas Senate Republican primary runoff — a direct intervention against the Senate Republican establishment. The Paxton buy underscores that Fellowship PAC's primary objective in 2026 is reshaping the Republican Party rather than targeting Democrats.

Tether's USDT token is a key vehicle for crypto transactions that touch US-sanctioned jurisdictions. During the 2026 Iran conflict, OFAC added two TRON blockchain wallet addresses to the Central Bank of Iran's SDN entry — the first time blockchain wallet addresses were attached to an Iranian state institution in the conflict. USDT circulates heavily on the TRON network, making the OFAC designation a direct signal that Tether-denominated stablecoin flows to Iranian counterparties are within OFAC's enforcement scope.