U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal has asked Tether and consulting firm Nxum Group to provide records about their reported business relationship and payments involving Nxum co-founder Bo Hines. The October 22 letters seek responses by November 6 and expand a Senate minority inquiry into cryptocurrency companies and public officials.

What the letters request

Blumenthal, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent one letter to Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino and another to Nxum CEO Todd Hines. The requests cover contracts, payment dates and methods, cryptocurrency wallet addresses, communications, lobbying services and any discussions involving Bo Hines, Tether, Nxum or marketing firm Notorious. They also ask why an intermediary was used in the companies' reported arrangement and when direct contracting began.

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The official release says the requested material should cover communications involving White House or other regulators, stablecoin legislation, potential employment and compliance matters. It also seeks records concerning a reported proposal for Tether to acquire a stake in Nxum. The letters request information from January 20 through August 9, 2025 for communications involving Bo Hines, as well as broader records about the commercial relationship.

Reported payments underpin the inquiry

Blumenthal's letters cite Wall Street Journal reporting that Tether entered an arrangement in May 2025 under which $415,000 a month would be paid for a strategic brand and public-affairs plan. The senator said the reporting described more than $6 million reaching Nxum while Bo Hines retained a one-third stake in the firm and served in the White House role overseeing digital-asset policy. Those claims remain allegations referenced by the senator, not findings by the subcommittee.

CoinDesk independently reported that Blumenthal sent the letters and that Hines later became chief executive of Tether's U.S. arm after leaving the administration. Tether told CoinDesk it was aware of the allegations and said external counsel had previously conducted an internal investigation that found no evidence of wrongdoing. The Token Press could not identify a public response from Nxum in the cited materials.

A records request, not an enforcement action

The correspondence comes from the subcommittee's ranking minority member and does not announce a subpoena, criminal charge or regulatory enforcement action. It asks the companies to produce information that could help lawmakers evaluate the reported payments, potential lobbying activity and any overlap with work on the GENIUS Act, the federal framework for payment stablecoins. Publication of the letters does not establish that any ethics, lobbying or anticorruption law was violated.

The inquiry matters to the stablecoin industry because Tether operates USDT, the largest dollar-linked token, and Hines held a federal digital-assets policy role during debate over stablecoin legislation. Even so, the existence of a commercial relationship or a request for documents does not by itself prove improper influence. The questions turn on who knew about the arrangement, what services were performed and how payments and policy communications were handled.

What comes next

Tether and Nxum have until November 6 to respond to the requests in the letters. It is not yet clear whether their submissions will be made public or whether the inquiry will lead to hearings, subpoenas or further action. The next verifiable development will be a company response, a new subcommittee disclosure or another formal step supported by documents rather than allegations alone.

Sources

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