A newly established political action committee, The Fellowship PAC, has made its first financial expenditure, with $300,000 going towards advertising for Georgia Republican Clay Fuller through Nxum Group, a company co-founded by Tether US CEO Bo Hines. The PAC, which claims to be rooted in transparency, has ties to Tether, although the company has declined to confirm the connection. The expenditure was made to support Fuller's primary election effort, with the funds changing hands as he won his special election. The PAC's disclosures do not currently show a significant stockpile of contributions to support other candidates, despite an announcement last year that it would be established with pledges of $100 million.
An outside spokesperson for Tether stated that Tether International has no affiliation or oversight over Fellowship PAC, while also declining to respond to further inquiries about Tether US. The PAC's chairman, Jesse Spiro, is the vice president of regulatory affairs for Tether's US arm, and the PAC has begun listing endorsements for Republican politicians on its social media feed. The Fellowship PAC's first recipient of financial support, Fuller, is an incoming Republican member of the House of Representatives, and the money spent by the PAC was an independent expenditure.
As a candidate, Fuller has not publicly broadcast a position on crypto, but he does have the backing of President Trump. The firm paid by Fellowship PAC, Nxum, was co-founded by Bo Hines, who previously worked as a leading adviser to President Trump on crypto legislative advances.
There is no federal record of Nxum as a regular service provider for additional political efforts, although the company did contribute billboard advertising valued at $1 million for MAGA Inc. in support of Trump 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 to previous political engagement, with a focus on transparency and trust. The PAC's disclosures will eventually identify the origins of its contributions, which must come from US sources. The relatively young Tether US's stablecoin, USAT, has a market cap of about $37 million, suggesting that the firm may not have the independent resources yet to fund a major PAC.
The amount spent by Fellowship PAC so far is still a drop in the bucket compared to the receipts of the leading crypto super PAC, Fairshake. The US midterm elections are already underway, with many hotly contested primaries past or about to happen, and Fairshake has expended millions in the early contests. If the US House is taken over by a Democratic majority, the committees there will likely shift their 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.