Article: Cantor Fitzgerald Seeking Tether’s Assistance for Bitcoin Lending Initiative | PYMNTS.com
Cantor Fitzgerald is reportedly seeking support for its planned $2 billion bitcoin lending project from Tether.
The firms are discussing expanding their existing collaboration to include this planned program in which Cantor Fitzgerald would lend dollars to clients who put up bitcoin for collateral, Bloomberg reported Sunday (Nov. 24).
Neither Cantor Fitzgerald nor Tether immediately replied to PYMNTS’ request for comment.
The two companies already have a custodial relationship in which Cantor Fitzgerald’s custody business holds the U.S. Treasurys that support the value of Tether’s USDT stablecoin, according to the report.
The Bloomberg report comes at a time when Cantor Fitzgerald Chairman and CEO Howard Lutnick is co-chair of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team and has been named as Trump’s pick to head the Commerce Department, the report said.
Cantor Fitzgerald will start its bitcoin lending project with $2 billion in funding and expects to expand that to tens of billions of dollars, per the report.
Tether would likely be one of many financial contributors to the project, which has not yet formally started lending, according to the report.
Cantor Fitzgerald announced its plans for a bitcoin financing business in July, saying in a press release that it aims to provide leverage to investors who hold bitcoin and that it will partner with select bitcoin custodians to launch the program.
“Cantor Fitzgerald arranges and finances vast amounts of securities and commodities and, as strong supporters of bitcoin, will now build an incredible platform to support bitcoin investors’ financing needs,” Lutnick said in the release. “We are excited to help unlock bitcoin’s full potential and continue bridging the gap between traditional finance and digital assets.”
Bitcoin has reached record highs since the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, with traders expecting the crypto sector to benefit from Trump’s support of cryptocurrencies.
That rise was bolstered last week by media reports that Trump’s social media company is considering buying crypto trading firm Bakkt and that Trump was meeting privately with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong to discuss the incoming administration’s personnel appointments.
Tether’s USDT is the largest stablecoin by market cap, PYMNTS reported in October.
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