SoftBank, Ark May Back Stablecoin Giant Tether in Massive Funding Round: Report

Tech investors SoftBank Group and Ark Investment are among the firms discussing participation in a major Tether fundraise that could  value the stablecoin issuer at $500 billion, according to a Friday Bloomberg report.

The two groups’ interest follows three days after news that El Salvador-based Tether was looking to raise $15-20 billion for a 3% equity stake. Bloomberg first reported this story, citing two unnamed sources, although another source said the amount could be less. 

The initiative could help push Tether deeper into mainstream finance, the report said.

At $500 billion, Tether would rank among the world’s largest private companies, putting it in the same conversation as artificial intelligence firm OpenAI and Elon Musk’s space exploration and transportation firm, SpaceX, which received similar valuations.

Tether, which issues the world’s largest stablecoin—USDT—plan’s to further expand its footprint, anticipating the debut of a new U.S. regulated stablecoin—USAT—by the end of the year. 

Softbank is a Japan-based multinational investment company. Ark is a U.S.-based asset manager. Both have been active in the crypto space. 

The firm has been creating more of a presence in the United States since the election of U.S. President Donald Trump last year, recently adding former White House crypto advisor Bo Hines as a strategic advisor. It also maintains a close relationship with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose previous firm Cantor Fitzgerald is advising Tether in its fundraising talks and also custodies all its assets, according to the Bloomberg report. 

Tether and stablecoins have been at the forefront of crypto conversation for the bulk of this year, highlighted by the U.S.’s passage of the GENIUS Act, a regulatory framework for the trading and issuance of the fiat-backed tokens. 

Its USDT stablecoin sits at a $173 billion market cap, making it the third largest crypto asset by market cap at the time of writing and more than double the market cap of Circle’s USDC stablecoin. 

Stablecoins as a whole have added more than $122 billion in market cap since this time last year to reach a total of nearly $300 billion, according to data from DeFi Llama. Earlier this year, U.K. bank Standard Chartered predicted that the market could reach $750 billion by the end of 2026. 

Decrypt reached out to Tether for comment.