Tether Eyes $20B Raise at ~$500B Valuation, May Tokenize Shares via Hadron
Tether is exploring a potential $20 billion equity raise that would imply a company valuation near $500 billion, according to Bloomberg. Management is weighing options to provide controlled secondary liquidity — including traditional buybacks and issuing tokenized equity via its Hadron tokenization platform — rather than a conventional public listing. The company reportedly blocked at least one heavily discounted secondary stake sale that would have implied a roughly $280 billion valuation, signaling strict control over pricing and distribution. Discussions have included talks with large strategic investors such as SoftBank and Ark Invest. Tether issues USDT, the largest stablecoin by supply, and projects roughly $15 billion in profit this year. Hadron, launched in November 2024, supports tokenized real-world assets (RWA) and has partnerships with KraneShares and Bitfinex Securities to push tokenized ETFs and global stocks. Tokenizing Tether’s own equity would be a landmark real-world-asset tokenization use case and could force market and regulatory scrutiny of onchain equity mechanics. No final decision has been made.
Neutral
Impact on USDT (the stablecoin tied to Tether) is likely neutral. The report concerns Tether’s corporate fundraising and potential tokenization of its equity rather than changes to USDT’s peg or monetary policy. Tokenizing equity or executing buybacks could alter investor access to Tether ownership and attract strategic capital, but these moves do not directly increase or decrease USDT supply. Short-term market effects could include elevated attention and volatility in tokens associated with RWA platforms or trading venues that list tokenized shares, and potential regulatory scrutiny that creates uncertainty. Long-term, successful tokenization via Hadron could expand RWA demand and onchain utility for tokenized assets, indirectly benefiting ecosystem firms but not necessarily changing USDT price dynamics. Given no final decision and the company’s blocking of discounted secondary sales (which supports price control), immediate price impact on USDT is expected to be limited — hence a neutral classification.