Tether Seeks to Raise $20B to Hit a Valuation of $500B; Bloomberg

TL;DR

• Stablecoin issuer Tether is seeking to raise $20 billion from investors.
• The funding round will take the company’s valuation to $500 billion, making it one of the most valuable startups in the world

###Tether to Raise $20B in a New Funding Round

Tether, the company behind the USDT stablecoin, is looking to raise between $15 billion and $20 billion for about a 3% stake in the company. This is according to a latest report by Bloomberg, citing two people familiar with the company.

According to Bloomberg, the funding round will take place via a private placement and will take the company’s valuation to $500 billion. This will make it one of the most valuable startups in the world, alongside OpenAI and SpaceX. Tether would be issuing new equity, and Cantor Fitzgerald is acting as lead adviser.

Tether’s USDT is currently the leading atcoin, with a market cap of over $170 billion. The second-placed USDC, issued by Circle, has a market cap of $74 billion

This latest development comes after the company recently reported $4.9 billion in net profit in the second quarter and held over $162.5 billion in reserves against $157.1 billion in liabilities. Tether’s Bitcoin reserves also stand at $8.9 billion.

According to the report, the talks are still in the early stages, and the final amount to be raised could be lower. Tether has given prospective investors access to a data room over the past few weeks to ease the deal.