A newly formed super PAC, The Fellowship, has made its first expenditure, spending $300,000 on advertising for a Republican candidate, with the funds going to Nxum Group, a company co-founded by Bo Hines, the chief executive of Tether's US arm and a former adviser to President Donald Trump. The Fellowship PAC, which claims to be 'rooted in transparency,' has not disclosed its funding sources, despite announcing last year that it would be established with pledges of $100 million. The PAC's first expense filing to the Federal Election Commission indicates that it bought advertising for Georgia Republican Clay Fuller through Nxum Group, a firm that has no prior record of providing services to political efforts, apart from contributing $1 million in billboard advertising to support Trump in 2024.
The payment to Nxum Group may benefit Hines, who co-founded the company, and his relative, although it is unclear whether financial ties between Hines and Nxum still exist. According to Michael Beckel, a political reform expert, setting up a super PAC and paying oneself for services is not against US campaign-finance rules, as long as the services are provided at fair-market rates. The Fellowship PAC's advertising effort on behalf of Fuller is not yet clear, but the funds were spent just as Fuller was winning his special election.
The PAC's disclosures do not yet show a significant stockpile of contributions to back other candidates, with its current accounts still at zero. An outside spokesperson for Tether stated that Tether International has no affiliation or oversight over Fellowship PAC, but did not respond to further questions about Tether US. The Fellowship PAC has begun listing endorsements for Republican politicians on its social media feed, stating that it will support candidates who recognize the importance of emerging digital assets technology.
The PAC's first recipient of financial support, Fuller, is an incoming Republican member of the House of Representatives, who will still need campaign support for the upcoming primary and general election. The money spent by the Fellowship super PAC was an independent expenditure, meaning it had to be handled without strategizing with Fuller's campaign. As a candidate, Fuller has not broadcast a position on crypto, but has the backing of Trump, who called him 'a wonderful and talented man' in a post on Truth Social. The firm paid by Fellowship PAC, Nxum, was co-founded by Hines, who filed ethics disclosures last year as a White House official, working as a leading adviser trying to push crypto legislative advances.
There is no federal record of Nxum as a regular service provider for additional political efforts, apart from its contribution to Trump's campaign in 2024. The PAC's treasurer, Mitchell Nobel, is an executive at Cantor Fitzgerald, a firm that manages assets for Tether's global operation. When Fellowship was announced as a new PAC last year, it was presented as a contrast from previous political engagement, aiming to help the broader crypto ecosystem and not 'narrow or individual interests.' It is possible that some or all of the promised $100 million is in the PAC's coffers already, as federal disclosures typically trail behind the movements of money. The relatively young Tether US's stablecoin, USAT, has a market cap of about $37 million, suggesting the firm may not have the independent resources yet to fund a major PAC.
The rival crypto super PAC, Fairshake, has expended millions in the early contests, and the US midterm elections are already well underway, with many of the hotly contested primaries already past or about to happen. If the US House is taken over by a Democratic majority, the committees there will likely shift its agenda to challenge Trump's legislative efforts and investigate the administration's actions. The crypto industry will likely need a lot of friends from both parties, and it's not too late for Fellowship to make a splash in a congressional field that's likely to have major significance for future crypto legislation.