Bo Hines has joined Tether as the company’s new Strategic Advisor for Digital Assets and US Strategy as the stablecoin business seeks to enter the US market.
In an interview earlier in August, CEO Paolo Ardoino said Tether is planning to launch a stablecoin specifically for the US market before the end of 2025, following the passage of the GENIUS Act.
Inside Washington
Hines joins Tether from the White House, where he spent seven months as Executive Director of the White House Crypto Council, responsible for its day to day running.
One of the last acts of his tenure, before he left on 9 August, was the launch of the Council’s 180-day report, “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology”. It laid out a roadmap of regulatory and legislative recommendations aimed at meeting President Trump’s promise to make “the US the crypto capital of the world”.
In its press release, Tether said Hines will use his experience of the US legislative process to “help shape and execute the company’s US market entry, cultivating constructive relationships with policymakers and industry stakeholders.”
Hines posted on X on Tuesday, after the press release was issued: “Excited to help build an ecosystem of digital asset products that set the standard for compliance & innovation—empowering U.S. consumers and reshaping our financial system.”
Tether’s history
Tether’s US dollar-pegged stablecoin, USDT, is used by nearly half a billion people around the world, mostly in emerging markets. In addition, it made a 2024 profit of over $13 billion from its technology and blockchain activities.
However, the company has not be subject to a full and transparent financial audit. And USDT has in the past been linked to financing terrorists and criminal activity, as well as money laundering, in nearly 60 jurisdictions, according to Tether’s own disclosures.
Hines’ history
Hines is a former college football wide receiver and a trained lawyer who received his Juris Doctor degree from Wake Forest University School of Law in 2022, having transferred to Yale from North Carolina State University for his undergraduate degree.
He stood in the 2022 election for the US House of Representatives as a Republican in his native North Carolina, losing narrowly to the Democrat candidate. During the election campaign, he said the 2020 election had been stolen from Trump. He was not selected for the 2024 election.
Federal Election Commissions filings show Hines loaned his 2022 campaign over $930,000. Business Insider reported that, given Hines disclosed no job and no income, the money was likely to have come from his trust fund.
