- Tether plans $20 billion fundraising by converting company shares into digital tokens.
- The move aims to provide liquidity to shareholders without affecting overall equity plans.
- USDT’s circulating supply jumps to $186 billion, solidifying Tether’s lead in stablecoins.
Tether is considering transforming its shares in the company into digital tokens as it tries to control the selling of its equity among its existing investors, as reported by Bloomberg on Friday.
According to the report, Tether’s management is considering making a tokenized form of its stocks so that it can provide its shareholders with some liquidity without impacting its overall equity fundraising plans. Buying back shares is also being considered as an alternative option, as per sources.
Tether Faces Investor Share Conflict
These discussions have arisen as the USDT issuer readies itself for a massive fundraise. It is reportedly looking to raise $20 billion at a gigantic valuation of $500 billion, which will put it amongst the most valuable private companies in the world, on par with OpenAI and SpaceX.
The issue became more delicate as one of the shareholders, whose name had not been made public, tried to sell at least $1 billion worth of equity in Tether at $280 billion. The management at the stablecoin issuer felt that if they were to allow this sale at a significantly lower price, it might undermine their efforts at getting a higher price.
Talking to Bloomberg, a spokesperson for Tether said that it would be “imprudent and reckless” on the part of any investor to try and get money out of the venture without using the official process that is being overseen by top investment banks. According to the spokesperson, “We are confident that it will not proceed.”
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Tether Leads Stablecoin Market Growth
Tether’s increase has been remarkable as more and more people have shown interest in using USDT. As of lately, the circulating supply for USDT stood at approximately $186 billion, an increase of about $46 billion within a year, as provided by CoinGecko.
Its closest competitor, USDC offered by Circle, stands at approximately $78 billion. Circle made a successful IPO listing with a value of $6.9 billion back in June. On Friday, Circle shares fell 2.3% to $86, according to Yahoo Finance.
As previously reported by Bloomberg, big companies, including Japan’s SoftBank and Ark Invest, have expressed interest in investing in the stablecoin issuer. Nonetheless, there is no timeline for a possible listing yet from the company.
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