Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary nominated by U.S. President-elect Trump, is exploring strengthening financial ties with the company that operates the world's largest stablecoin Tether, planning to launch a $2 billion project to provide dollar loans to customers with Bitcoin as collateral.
Howard Lutnick's financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald is discussing obtaining Tether's support to help finance the project, which could amount to tens of billions of dollars.
Tether currently holds billions of dollars in U.S. Treasuries through Cantor's custody business, which support the value of its dominant USDT stablecoin. According to people familiar with the matter, this custody relationship brings Cantor tens of millions of dollars in revenue each year. (Bloomberg)