Tether has scaled back plans to raise up to $20 billion after investors pushed back on the size of the deal and the valuation, according to a Financial Times report.
The stablecoin issuer, led by CEO Paolo Ardoino, had explored a funding round last year that could have valued the company at around $500 billion.
Valuation and fundraising reset
Advisers have since floated a smaller raise of about $5 billion, a sharp reduction from earlier discussions.
Ardoino told the FT the $15 billion to $20 billion figure was misunderstood as a target rather than a ceiling.
He said:
“That number is not our goal.”
Profitability vs. investor skepticism
The FT report said investors questioned whether a valuation that high made sense compared with private companies such as SpaceX and ByteDance.
Ardoino said Tether generated about $10 billion in profit last year, largely from interest on assets backing USDT.
Tether’s USDT has more than $185 billion in circulation.
Reserves and regulatory concerns
Prospective backers also raised concerns about regulatory risk and long-running questions about Tether’s reserves and transparency.
Tether publishes quarterly attestations from BDO Italia, but has not released a full audit.
S&P Global downgraded Tether’s reserve assessment last year, citing increased exposure to bitcoin and gold.
Ardoino defended Tether’s profitability compared with loss-making AI companies, saying similar valuations were being assigned elsewhere despite negative earnings.
