Tether has quietly backed away from plans to raise up to $20 billion in fresh capital after facing investor resistance to a proposed valuation that would rank the stablecoin issuer among the world’s most valuable private companies, according to a Financial Times report on Wednesday.
The company, which issues the USDT stablecoin with more than $185 billion in circulation, had explored a funding round last year that could have valued Tether at around $500 billion, according to people familiar with the talks.
Advisors have since proposed raising about $5 billion, a sharp reduction from previous discussions, as investors questioned both the size of the deal and the valuation.
Chief Executive Paolo Ardoino said the larger figures had been misinterpreted and described the range of between $15 billion and $20 billion as a ceiling rather than a target.
“That number is not our goal,” Ardoino said in an interview with the Financial Times. “If we didn’t sell anything, we would also be very happy.”
Tether’s fundraising push has drawn attention because the company is already highly profitable and has limited operational need for outside capital. Ardoino said the company generated about $10 billion in profits last year, largely from interest earned on the assets backing USDT, adding that insiders were reluctant to sell shares.
Still, potential investors have expressed concern about a valuation that would put Tether alongside the likes of SpaceX, ByteDance and leading artificial intelligence companies. Some have also pointed to regulatory risks and long-standing issues around reserve transparency as sticking points.
Tether has faced scrutiny since its founding over the quality of its reserves and the use of USDT in illicit activities. While the company now publishes quarterly certifications from BDO Italia, it has not published a full audit. Ratings agency S&P Global downgraded Tether’s reserves assessment last year, citing increased exposure to assets such as bitcoin and gold.
But Ardoino has defended the company’s approach, arguing that Tether’s profitability compares favorably to loss-making AI companies with similar valuations.
“If you think an AI company is worth $800 billion with a huge minus sign in front of it, be my guest,” he said.
Tether’s growing footprint in U.S. Treasuries and gold has made it one of the most important bridges between traditional finance and digital assets, a role that continues to attract attention even as investors debate how much the company is worth.
