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Tether Holdings Limited, the corporation behind the USDT stablecoin, is apparently in advanced talks for a huge investment round that could make the company worth a staggering $500 billion. A Bloomberg report from September 23, 2025, says that the El Salvador-based company is looking for $15 billion to $20 billion in a private placement. Investors would get about 3% equity, which would make Tether one of the most valuable private companies in the world, along with OpenAI and SpaceX.
Cantor Fitzgerald is in charge of the round, and talks are going on with big names like SoftBank and Ark Invest. However, the parameters are still up in the air and could change for the worse. CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed the chase on X, saying they are looking at “strategic investors with high profiles” to help Tether grow even more. The company made $4.9 billion in net profit in the second quarter of 2025 alone, bringing its year-to-date earnings to $5.7 billion.
With a market worth of $172 billion, USDT makes over 56% of the $307 billion stablecoin sector. This hike shows that Tether is still quietly in charge of crypto infrastructure, even though it has to deal with regulatory scrutiny and competition. It shows that institutional interest in stablecoins is growing, and they might represent a trillion-dollar bridge between TradFi and DeFi.
The Funding Round: How it Works, When it Happens, and Who the Strategic Investors Are
If Tether’s proposed financing goes through, it will be one of the biggest private equity investments ever. It would be much bigger than OpenAI’s $6.6 billion offering at a $157 billion value in October 2024. The plan is to sell a small stake through a private placement, with the money going toward diversifying reserves, improving compliance, and growing the ecosystem. For example, USDT’s usefulness in emerging markets and tokenized assets will be increased. Bloomberg says the objective is between $15 and $20 billion, but those close to the talks say they are open to other options, with a floor that could be as low as $10 billion depending on how much investors want to pay and how the negotiations go.
Cantor Fitzgerald, a Wall Street veteran with a lot of experience in crypto (including helping with Bitcoin ETF launches), is in charge of the process and is using its connections to win over big institutions. SoftBank, which just put $1.5 billion into Circle, and Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest are both interested in the financing. Tether made $5.2 billion in profit in the first quarter, which is more than many Fortune 500 companies make per person. With only 150 employees, Tether’s returns are comparable to those of tech giants.
Ardoino’s X post on September 23 lowered expectations: “We are looking at funding from a number of high-profile strategic investors… but no final decisions have been made.” The agreement might finish by the first quarter of 2026, which fits with Tether’s aggressive growth ambitions. These objectives include launching USDT on other blockchains like Tron futures and even tokenizing real-world assets (RWAs). This isn’t Tether’s first rodeo; it raised $500 million in 2023 at a $5 billion valuation. The jump to $500 billion shows how stablecoins have grown into a $307 billion market, with USDT processing $18 trillion in transactions last year, which is 10% of all payments made throughout the world.
How Tether Makes Money: From Reserves to Record Profits
Tether’s goal of becoming more valuable is backed by amazing financials that don’t match its low-key operations. In the second quarter of 2025, net profit jumped to $4.9 billion, thanks to $1.3 billion in interest on U.S. Treasury holdings (now at $118 billion in reserves) and $1.4 billion from “other investments,” which include Bitcoin and gold. That’s $5.7 billion so far this year, more than Meta’s net income in Q2 with a smaller number of employees. This is because USDT is the dominant currency in emerging regions, where it acts as a de facto dollar for remittances and trade.
Tether has an advantage over other companies like Circle (USDC has a market cap of $35 billion) because its reserves generate interest. As of June 30, 2025, 84% of its assets were in cash equivalents and Treasuries, which earned more than 5% at high rates. Critics used to complain about lack of transparency, but quarterly attestations from BDO and regulatory nods like the EU’s MiCA compliance have made it more credible. Ardoino’s plan to diversify beyond just backing with fiat has kept Tether safe from the threats of depegging, as seen by USDT’s stability during the Terra crash in 2022.
This level of profit makes the high price reasonable: Tether would be worth $500 billion, which is 2.9 times its $172 billion USDT maximum. This is a fair amount compared to Stripe’s $65 billion for processing payments. But doubters like @BitcoinMagazine challenge the math, pointing out that Tether’s $5 billion yearly profit is small compared to OpenAI’s predicted $100 billion revenue run-rate. Still, the premium is like Visa’s $500 billion market valuation since it has network effects that let the company do more than $1 trillion in business each month.
Leading the Way in Stablecoins
USDT has a strong hold on the $307 billion stablecoin market as of September 28, 2025, with 56% of it. This is because it is widely traded (70% of exchange pairs) and useful in the real world. According to Chainalysis, stablecoins have become quite popular as cheap and easy methods to get into blockchain, with 300 million users worldwide, up 40% from the previous year. The GENIUS Act of July 2025 set standards for issuance and reserves in the U.S. This solidified the dollar’s dominance and allowed for new ideas, which helped Tether’s compliance effort.
Asia is a big part of this: USDT volumes reached $10 trillion in 2024, which helped send money to India and the Philippines. Tether’s growth, such as USDT on Bitcoin Layer-2s like Stacks and connections with Telegram wallets, makes its moat more stronger. Competitors like USDC ($35 billion) stress openness, but Tether’s yield strategy (via reserves) gives institutions that want to make money a way to do so.
What This Means for Crypto and Other Things
A $500 billion valuation would show that stablecoins are a trillion-dollar asset class, similar to OpenAI’s AI bet. For Tether, money might be used to buy things (like Bitfinex synergy) or tokenize RWA, which would be more than just issuing. Market-wide, it shows that institutions are becoming more mature: BlackRock’s tokenized funds and JPMorgan’s Onyx already employ USDT rails. This rise might speed up TradFi inflows, pushing stablecoin TVL above $500 billion by 2027.
Risks are still there, like regulatory investigations (like the NYAG settlement in 2021) and fears of depegging. However, Tether’s $118 billion reserves provide as a buffer. On X, some people praised the “quiet empire,” but other worried that it was too expensive. It strengthens the dominance of the US dollar over the world, even as BRICS talks about de-dollarization.
Conclusion
Tether’s goal of raising $20 billion at a $500 billion value cements its reputation as the crypto industry’s unsung giant, thanks to $5.7 billion in revenues so far this year and USDT’s 56% market share.
Cantor advised on the deal, and SoftBank and Ark are interested in it. If it goes through, it would be as big as OpenAI, showing how stablecoins have gone from a niche tool to the backbone of global payments worth trillions of dollars.
As the GENIUS Act moves forward and remittances from Asia rise, Tether’s growth offers more integration with DeFi and higher returns for institutions. But with regulatory issues and disagreements about value, success requires perfect execution.
For investors, it’s a reminder of the silent revolution of stablecoins: they are profitable, everywhere, and ready to change the way we do business. As Ardoino looks for “high-profile” sponsors, Tether’s next chapter might change the future of crypto, which is worth a trillion dollars.
