Tether May Delay Fundraising If Demand Falls Short at $500B Valuation

In September last year, Bloomberg reported that Tether was exploring a fundraising round of up to $20 billion that could value the company at around $500 billion. The firm was considering raising $15 billion to $20 billion through a private placement for roughly a 3% stake, with Cantor Fitzgerald acting as lead adviser.

Following the report, CEO Paolo Ardoino said on X that the company was exploring a raise from a select group of investors to expand across “existing and new business lines (stablecoins, distribution ubiquity, AI, commodity trading, energy, communications, media) by several orders of magnitude.”

However, in a comment to Cointelegraph in February, Ardoino denied reports that it planned to raise up to $20 billion, saying earlier figures were hypothetical scenarios rather than an active fundraising plan. Still, he defended the $500 billion valuation, comparing the companys profits to AI platforms such as OpenAI.

Cointelegraph reached out to Tether for comment, but did not get a response by publication.

Tether taps KPMG for first full audit od USDt

Meanwhile, Tether has reportedly hired KPMG to conduct its first full audit of USDts financial statements, with PwC assisting in preparing internal systems, according to the Financial Times. The move follows years of relying on reserve attestations from BDO Italia rather than a comprehensive audit.

A full audit would go beyond reserve snapshots to examine assets, liabilities and internal controls across Tethers balance sheet.