Tether's Latest Investment Landscape, Crypto Track Still Mainstream

Original Article Title: Tether Investments: What a $100B stablecoin empire does with its profits
Original Article Author: Bennett Tomlin, protos
Original Article Translation: Dancing Workman, BlockBeats

Tether is now one of the world's most influential financial groups. Not only does it operate the highest-valued stablecoin, but its investment portfolio spans across multiple fields, including cryptocurrency, payment processing, video streaming, artificial intelligence, brain-machine interfaces, farmland, satellites, football, and more.

These investments are aimed at expanding the company's reach and influence, and if successful, are expected to bring significant financial returns in the future.

Tether's CEO, Paolo Ardoino, has revealed that Tether has invested in over 120 companies, but only 24 are publicly listed on its official website's "Tether Ventures" page.

This public list has also changed over time. According to screenshots shared by Ardoino and internet archives, the initial list of Tether Ventures included OrionX. Tether had referred to OrionX as "one of Chile's leading digital asset exchanges" in a now-deleted blog post.

Protos reached out to Tether to inquire why the company was removed from the website but did not receive a response prior to publication.

In fact, there are many other investment projects that have been reported by the media—even sometimes appearing on Tether's own website—but for some reason, they have not been included on this investment portfolio page.

Samson Mow's Company

Samson Mow's company, the former Chief Strategy Officer of Blockstream, has received multiple investments from Tether.

One of the earliest investments was Tether's participation in Exordium's security token offering (STO). Exordium is the publisher behind the game "Infinite Fleet," founded by Mow. Exordium uses Holepunch technology, funded by Tether, to distribute its game client.

The Exordium website claims that its security token is still available on Bitfinex Securities (an affiliate of Tether). However, upon checking the Bitfinex Securities website, the token is not currently listed in the active trading pairs.

Exordium is not the only company invested in by Tether; Tether has also invested in Jan3, another company founded by Mow. Jan3 raised funds from Tether to "accelerate the development and expansion of the AQUA wallet."

Additionally, Blockstream has also received funding from iFinex, which is one of the companies operating the Bitfinex platform.

Celsius

Tether is also an equity investor in Celsius, a now-defunct cryptocurrency lending platform involved in a large-scale fraud.

Celsius's founder and former CEO, Alex Mashinsky, was recently sentenced to 12 years in prison.

The lack of mention of this investment on the Tether Ventures page is unsurprising, as the equity became worthless following the collapse of the fraudulent platform.

In addition to equity investment, Tether had also provided loans to Celsius, and the settlement of these loans was a significant point of contention in Celsius's bankruptcy proceedings. The lawsuit recently concluded with a settlement amount of $2.995 billion.

Volcano Energy

Volcano Energy is a Bitcoin mining project in El Salvador that initially aimed to power a series of Bitcoin mining machines using geothermal energy from a volcano.

Tether described its goal as "fulfilling its mission of investing in renewable energy to support and promote sustainable Bitcoin mining."

According to the project's website, since then, Volcano Energy has shifted its focus from volcano geothermal energy to wind and solar energy. Currently, the project has not started mining any Bitcoin.

Tether Uruguay / Microfin

Tether has also partnered with local firm Microfin to invest in a Bitcoin mining operation in Uruguay. Tether stated that this investment demonstrates its "commitment to energy innovation and the future of cryptocurrency."

In September of this year, reports emerged that Tether was planning to abandon the project due to unpaid electricity bills. At that time, Tether told Cointelegraph, "Tether continues to support these efforts and will seek a constructive path forward, reflecting our commitment to long-term sustainable opportunities in the region."

However, according to El Observador, it has since been reported that Tether has officially abandoned the project, citing high energy costs making it economically unviable.

Tether's Special Projects Division

Tether has several projects under its "Special Projects Division," led by Davide Rovelli.

These include Plan B, a cryptocurrency conference based in Switzerland operated by Rovelli's AltKey SA. Plan B's stated goal is to "establish a European hub for crypto in Lugano."

One of Plan B's self-proclaimed "masterpieces" is Luganodes, a provider of "staking-as-a-service." This service primarily focuses on the Tron network founded by Justin Sun, the second-largest network in terms of USDT token issuance.

2040 Energy / Proton

2040 Energy was originally a joint project between Tether and Swan.

The project eventually turned into a legal dispute, alleging that Tether induced key advisors to leave 2040 Energy and instead launch the Proton Management project, which had closer ties to Tether. Both 2040 Energy and Proton Management were funded by Tether.

Recently, Proton Management successfully applied for mandatory arbitration in the Central District Court of California. These projects represent only part of Tether's evolution into a major backer of the Bitcoin mining ecosystem.

Satellogic

Tether even extended its investment tentacles to space, investing in Satellogic, a company that operates satellites and sells observation data.

In a press release announcing the investment, Satellogic stated that the funds "will help advance our mission as we continue to focus on the strategic deployment of space assets, the national security market in the United States, and the opportunities of the global space system."

In October, Satellogic announced that it would publicly sell a portion of its equity.

Parfin

In a blog post, Tether described Parfin as "a digital asset custody, tokenization, trading, and management platform in Latin America."

This investment is part of Tether's belief, as Ardoino described it, that Latin America will become one of the global blockchain innovation hubs."

Among other features, the Parfin platform promotes its "compliance-as-a-service" management tools for other financial institutions. Parfin also launched a product called Rayls, described as a "blockchain for banks."

According to CoinMarketCap data, the associated token's market cap is around $44 million.

Ledn

Ledn is a Bitcoin lending platform, referred to by Ardoino as being able to "expand credit channels without the need for individuals to sell their digital assets."

Ledn is one of the smaller lenders to have lent to Alameda Research. Following the FTX and Alameda collapse, Ledn claimed to have "fully absorbed the impact of the outstanding loan with Alameda" and further noted that "Ledn also has a small amount of assets on FTX, which will not affect customer assets."

Ledn had previously relied on Genesis Global Capital as a partner but reportedly terminated the relationship before Genesis's collapse. These issues occurred before Tether invested in the company.

Kotani Pay

Tether describes Kotani Pay as "an infrastructure that connects Web3 users across Africa with local payment channels for deposits and withdrawals."

It promotes its ability to convert various local currencies into cryptocurrency. Additionally, it offers a so-called "Stablecoin Settlement Solution" aimed at facilitating cross-border payments and claims to be faster than banks.

Bit2Me

Bit2Me is described in Tether's blog as the "leading Spanish-language digital asset platform."

It provides exchange services, as well as "Asset Management (Earn)" products, "Loan" products that allow users to take out cryptocurrency-backed loans, and a "Blockchain Securities Exchange."

It has a platform coin called B2M. According to self-reported data on CoinMarketCap, its market cap has dropped from a peak of around $550 million to just $58 million.

Pave Bank

Tether's recent investment went to Pave Bank, a bank regulated in Georgia, which promises to provide "global, secure multi-asset banking" and "programmable banking."

The company claims to be a "tech company" in terms of product design and construction, and a "fully regulated bank" in terms of risk, capital, and regulatory management.

Prestige Wealth

Prestige Wealth (or Aurelion) is a peculiar company. Similar to other Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) companies, the difference is that the assets it invests in are Tether Gold, a tokenized version of a so-called Real World Asset (RWA).

Tether invested in this company when it was raising funds to purchase Tether Gold. A large part of its Private Investment in Public Equity (PIPE) financing was contributed in the form of Tether (USDT) tokens.

In the press release announcing this investment, Aurelion's CEO Björn Schmidtke stated: "This is not just about returns or finance; it's about redefining how real wealth is held, transferred, and preserved in the digital age."

The press release further claims that Aurelion offers "returns, transparency, regulatory compliance, and daily on-chain verification."

Pointsville

Pointsville is another company focused on tokenizing real-world assets (RWA) and providing a loyalty program.

The company is led by Gabor Gurbacs, whose LinkedIn profile indicates he is the Chief Strategic Advisor of Tether.

Ardoino, in describing the funding in a press release, stated, "Tokenization is rapidly becoming one of the most practical, impactful drivers of real-world asset applications. Tether's Hadron platform is proud to support this transformation, working with Pointsville's experienced team to provide the necessary scale and availability to integrate real-world assets and loyalty programs into the digital economy."

Transak

Transak describes itself as the "global leader in fiat-to-crypto infrastructure," with Ardoino mentioning that they are "accelerating adoption in emerging and developed markets, bridging the financial access gap, and creating new opportunities for businesses and consumers."

It offers over-the-counter (OTC) trading services as well as fiat on/off-ramp services.

Unlike the aforementioned investments, Tether does have some other significant investments indeed listed on the website.

Rumble and Northern Data

When Tether initially invested in Northern Data, it was a data center and Bitcoin mining company.

Tether quickly became a major shareholder. Since then, Northern Data has spun off its mining business into Peak Mining and shifted its focus heavily towards artificial intelligence (AI).

Tether also invested in Rumble, a video streaming platform popular among right-wing individuals, especially those banned from Twitch.

Subsequently, Rumble acquired Northern Data in a deal that gave Tether around 30% ownership of Rumble. In addition to bringing cryptocurrency onto its balance sheet, Rumble also introduced Tether as a primary advertising client, with Tether committing to invest $100 million in advertising.

Rumble's recent earnings call discussed the company's intent to transition into a self-described "freedom-first" AI infrastructure company.

Ardoino was prominently mentioned during the conference call, at one point stating that "Rumble's vision aligns perfectly with ours."

Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski also claimed during the conference call that Rumble will be promoting its cryptocurrency-based Rumble Wallet to all of its users this month. Risk capital firm 1789 Capital, with Donald Trump Jr. as a partner, has also invested in Rumble.

Bitdeer

Jihan Wu has a long history in the Bitcoin mining industry, being the co-founder and former CEO of Bitmain.

He now leads Bitdeer, a company that split off from Bitmain and went public on NASDAQ. Tether has invested in Bitdeer, holding a stake that peaked at over 20% and subsequently reduced to around 18%.

CityPay.io

CityPay.io is a Georgia-based company focused on helping merchants accept cryptocurrency payments.

When Tether invested in the company, it was stated to be part of its "expansion of influence in Georgia." Ardoino noted that Tether is "excited to collaborate with CityPay.io to bring greater innovation and efficiency to Georgia's payment industry."

Fizen

Fizen is described in a Tether blog post as a company "focused on self-custody wallets and digital payments."

Fizen's website promotes the ability to "earn on the go" and emphasizes the capability to "enjoy returns anytime, anywhere."

Ardoino stated that this investment "underscores our commitment to expanding global access to efficient, reliable digital financial solutions, thereby promoting the wise, responsible use of digital assets in everyday life."

Kem

Kem is described in a Tether blog post as "a platform designed for remittances and financial management," primarily operating in the Middle East and North Africa. Ardoino referred to this investment as reinforcing "Tether's commitment to promoting financial inclusion and stability."

The Kem website describes it as the "first cryptocurrency bank." While this may seem like Kem is actually not a bank, and it certainly is not the first bank to attempt to serve the cryptocurrency industry.

However, its website does indicate that "Kem operates through Kemfinity s.r.o. (company number: 221 62 194), which is an entity holding a VASP (Virtual Asset Service Provider) license in the Czech Republic."

Sorted Wallet

Sorted Wallet is described by Tether as a platform that "provides a secure, convenient cryptocurrency exchange, bridging the gap for underserved populations in developing regions with no bank accounts or limited banking services."

In addition to providing a wallet, it also promotes the ability for users to "cash out USDT to bank, airtime, or mobile money accounts."

Ardoino claims, "By supporting Sorted Wallet, we are unlocking new opportunities for individuals with basic-feature phones to participate in the financial system. Our goal is to ensure that everyone, regardless of their location or type of phone, can securely manage and use cryptocurrency, empowering them to build a more secure financial future and actively participate in the evolving digital economy."

Synonym

Synonym is a Bitcoin wallet provider that includes Lightning Network functionality, with its website indicating it is "a Tether company."

In addition to the wallet, the company is also behind Pubky, which its website describes as an application driven by "a new decentralized protocol, incorporating social tags and social curation features."

Furthermore, it also offers Atomicity, described as a "P2P trust system" aimed at achieving "business and collaboration beyond traditional big bank credit cards."

Shiga

Shiga Digital is described in a Tether blog post as "a modern platform providing a path to pan-African blockchain financial solutions that are real-world usable and easily accessible. Shiga Digital offers virtual accounts, OTC services, fund management, and forex services to African businesses."

Its website presents "Empower your business with a decentralized banking solution." Shiga claims to be an EU-licensed Virtual Asset Service Provider but does not seem to be a bank in the literal sense.

XREX

XREX is described on the Tether Ventures page as a "cross-border B2B payment provider in emerging markets based on USDT," while on its official website, it is described as "shaping the future of banking."

Its website claims it is a FinCEN-regulated Money Service Business, a licensed major payment institution in Singapore, and a licensed VASP Anti-Money Laundering Registrar in Taiwan. The website does not appear to mention any banking licenses.

Tether's article about the investment states that this investment will enable XREX to "facilitate compliant, USDT-based cross-border B2B payments in emerging markets." Additionally, the article mentions that "XREX will collaborate with the Unitas Foundation to launch XAU1, a dollar-pegged unitized stablecoin backed by excess reserves of Tether Gold (XAUt)."

StablR and Quantoz

StablR is launching a stablecoin in Europe designed to comply with the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) framework and relies on the Hadron tokenization platform created by Tether.

Quantoz is another company planning to launch a stablecoin in Europe that complies with MiCA standards using Tether's Hadron platform. Tether had offered its own Euro-pegged stablecoin, EURT, but that project has been discontinued.

Blackrock Neurotech

Perhaps Tether's most peculiar investment is in Blackrock Neurotech, a company focused on developing brain-machine interfaces.

This investment falls under the "Tether Evo" umbrella. The Tether Evo website states: "Tether stands at the intersection of innovation and human potential, dedicated to propelling humanity into a future where technology and human capabilities are fused in ways previously unimagined."

Academy of Digital Industries

Tether has also invested in the Academy of Digital Industries, an online training and education platform based in Georgia. This investment is said to have allowed the platform to expand its courses on "Bitcoin, stablecoins, peer-to-peer technology, and artificial intelligence."

Be Water

In a blog post announcing Tether's investment, Be Water was described as "an innovative media company focused on creating and distributing audio, video, film, and live streaming content." Ardoino stated that this investment aligns with Tether's belief in the "importance of independent media in shaping an informed society."

Crystal Intelligence

Tether's investment in the blockchain analytics firm Crystal Intelligence seems to align with its desire to "combat illicit stablecoin usage by supporting law enforcement and building a more secure, resilient digital asset ecosystem." Tether has also partnered with Crystal Intelligence's competitor, Chainalysis, integrating it into the Tether Hadron platform.

Elemental Altus

Tether also invested in Elemental Altus, a precious metals royalty company. Ardoino described this investment as aligning with Tether's "long-held belief that tangible assets like Bitcoin and gold will underpin the most enduring form of digital value."

Holepunch

Tether and its sister company Bitfinex are also backers of Holepunch, a secure peer-to-peer communication platform that offers the Keet video chat app. Ardoino also serves as Holepunch's Chief Strategy Officer.

Juventus Football Club

One of the most puzzling investments is in the Juventus Football Club, where Tether sought to position it as an opportunity to "integrate its futuristic investment portfolio into the sports industry." This also indicates Tether's desire to incorporate "stablecoins, digital assets, and human-centric technology into everyday life."

Zengo Wallet

Tether describes Zengo as a "leading self-custody crypto wallet known for its emphasis on security and usability" and further claims that Zengo has served 1.5 million users with "no instances of wallet hacks, phishing, or takeovers."

Zengo is a Multi-Party Computation (MPC) wallet that protects your cryptocurrency keys by storing them in shards on your own mobile device and Zengo's servers.

Mansa

Mansa claims to provide revolving credit lines to payment companies to help facilitate transaction settlements and fast fund turnover in customer accounts. Additionally, its website describes other services it offers, including over-the-counter forex trading and "virtual card processing."

Oobit

Tether describes Oobit as "a mobile payment app." Ardoino stated that Tether's investment is part of Tether and Oobit's "joint vision to drive widespread cryptocurrency adoption globally."

Adecoagro

Adecoagro is an agricultural group that also invests in energy production. Following Tether's acquisition of a majority stake in the company, it announced a memorandum of understanding "to explore a strategic partnership focused on bitcoin mining."

NAKA

NAKA is a company that claims to be dedicated to developing a "self-custody payment card." Crunchbase data indicates that Tether has invested in it.

Twenty One

Lastly, there is Twenty One, a Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) company led by Jack Mallers and owned by Tether, which has partnered with Tether's key custodian Cantor Fitzgerald.

Twenty One's website claims to currently hold 43,514 bitcoins.

Conclusion

Protos can only confirm around a quarter of Tether's reported investments (assuming Ardoino's "120+" statement remains accurate).

The confirmed investments reveal a financial company deeply rooted in and beyond the cryptocurrency industry, while the vast majority of its other investments remain unknown, making it nearly impossible for outsiders to assess Tether's full impact and reach.

Source: "Original Article Link"