Cantor Fitzgerald's Tether Stake Went From $600M to $10B. Now a Senator Wants to See the Receipts

In 2024, Cantor Fitzgerald picked up the rights to a 5% stake in Tether. A US senator says that stake was worth an estimated $600 million back then.

He also says it’s now worth an estimated $10 billion.

The man who negotiated the deal is now the US Commerce Secretary. On Thursday, the Senate’s top Democratic investigator asked his son to explain all of it in writing.

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The Letter

On October 8, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, wrote to Brandon Lutnick, Cantor Fitzgerald’s chairman. Brandon took over the firm when his father, Howard Lutnick, was confirmed as Commerce Secretary in February 2025.

According to CoinDesk and Cointelegraph, Blumenthal wants records going back to January 1, 2023 on:

• How much money Cantor makes from Tether, and its role as custodian of Tether’s reserves
• How Cantor monitors Tether’s compliance with banking and sanctions laws
• All communications involving Howard Lutnick about Tether, including after he left the firm
• The terms of Howard Lutnick’s divestiture, and any Tether financing or payments to the Lutnick family
• Whether Cantor requires independent audits of Tether

He also asked a pointed question: “Please describe all steps Cantor Fitzgerald has taken to investigate allegations that Tether’s stablecoin has been used in illicit finance and money laundering, including within Iran’s shadow banking network and for purposes of Russia sanctions evasion.”

Cantor has until October 23 to respond.

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The Numbers in the Letter

These are Blumenthal’s allegations, not findings from a court or regulator:

Claim	Figure
Cantor’s Tether stake (acquired 2024)	Rights to 5%
Estimated value before Trump returned to office	$600 million
Estimated value now	$10 billion
What Howard Lutnick allegedly received in that period	More than $250 million
Including a single distribution from Cantor	$192 million

The other key fact isn’t disputed. Cantor has custodied Treasuries backing Tether’s reserves since 2021, and reportedly holds tens of billions of dollars of them. As Blumenthal put it, “the vast majority of its assets reside in the United States under your custodianship.”

That’s the leverage. Tether is based offshore, but its money sits with a New York firm that a sitting cabinet secretary ran until last year.

Blumenthal says Cantor’s arrangements with Tether “come at the expense of America’s national security,” and that Tether has made “untold millions in interest and investments” while Cantor profited alongside it.

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Why Now

This is round two. Last month, the same Democratic investigators published a report saying 84% of 846 sanctioned Iran-linked wallets ran on USDT. We covered it here. Blumenthal has already asked Treasury and the Justice Department to look into possible sanctions violations.

Tether’s response hasn’t changed. It says it has worked with law enforcement for years and has frozen nearly $550 million in Iran-linked USDT this year. Neither Cantor nor Tether immediately responded to requests for comment on the new letter.

Here’s the part that matters: as minority members, Blumenthal and Sen. Elizabeth Warren can write letters but can’t force anyone to answer. That changes if Democrats retake the Senate in November and get subpoena power. CoinDesk notes that prediction markets put those odds at 61% on Kalshi and 64% on Polymarket, up from about 50-50 a few weeks ago.

So the October 23 deadline is optional for now. In January, it might not be.

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Why This Matters for Crypto Jobs

1. Stablecoin compliance is now a political job. USDT is the biggest stablecoin on the planet, and its reserve custodian is getting letters from Senate investigators. Sanctions screening, wallet freezing, and Travel Rule work at stablecoin issuers and their banking partners are now board-level priorities. If you have OFAC, AML, or blockchain forensics experience, you’re in demand.

2. Custodians and TradFi partners will tighten up. Any bank or broker holding stablecoin reserves just watched Cantor get a document request that covers its compliance controls. Expect more hiring for risk, audit, and regulatory roles at those custodians, plus more due diligence on the crypto firms they work with.

3. Watch the Senate race like a protocol upgrade. A Democratic majority means subpoenas, hearings, and a much tougher environment for offshore issuers. That would push even more demand toward compliant alternatives and the people who build them, from regulated stablecoin teams to policy and government affairs roles.

4. Europe is moving too. On the same day, the EU’s securities regulator gave MiCA-licensed platforms until January 8, 2027 to clear client exposure to non-compliant stablecoins. Pressure on USDT is coming from both sides of the Atlantic, and someone has to build the off-ramps.

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Want to work on the compliance side of crypto, or anywhere else in Web3? Stablecoin, AML, and policy teams are hiring. Browse open roles at Cryptogrind and find your next gig.