Tether Deal Earned Nxum $6.3M as Hines Pushed Longer Stablecoin Deadline

A Tether consulting deal generated $6.3 million for Nxum, a firm co-founded by former White House crypto adviser Bo Hines. Hines discussed the stablecoin bill with Nxum partners.

Hines held a one-third stake in Nxum while serving in the White House and had stepped back from day-to-day management. Signal messages show Hines shared GENIUS Act talking points with Nxum partners about Republican holdouts and urged lawmakers to expand the compliance period from 18 months to 36 months. A 36-month compliance window could give Tether more time to comply than U.S.-based competitors.

The arrangement ran through Notorious, Peter Vincer's marketing company, at $415,000 per month in six-month installments for at least two years. The first $2.49 million installment was sent through Bitfinex on May 11, 2025; Vincer kept $498,000 and routed the remainder to a wallet used by Nxum. Nxum-controlled wallets received two further $2.49 million transfers in December 2025 and April 2026, after Hines left government. The three transfers totaled $7.47 million, while Nxum's earnings from the arrangement were $6.3 million.

A Nxum representative said Hines did not know about or work on the firm's Tether business while in government, recused himself from firm matters and received no Tether-derived funds during that time.

President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act, establishing a federal framework for payment stablecoins, on July 18, 2025. Tether appointed Hines a strategic adviser on Aug. 19, 2025.