A newly formed super PAC, The Fellowship, has made its first major expenditure, investing $300,000 in advertising for Georgia Republican Clay Fuller through Nxum Group, a firm co-founded by Tether's US CEO, Bo Hines. This development comes as The Fellowship PAC, which claims to be rooted in transparency, has been tied to Tether, although the company has declined to confirm the connection.
The PAC's first expense filing to the Federal Election Commission indicates that the payment may benefit Hines and his relative, sparking questions about the nature of the transaction. According to Michael Beckel, an expert at Issue One, a political reform organization, setting up a super PAC and paying for services is not against US campaign-finance rules, as long as the services are provided at fair market value. The Fellowship PAC's advertising effort on behalf of Fuller is not yet clear, but the funds changed hands as Fuller was winning his special election.
The PAC's disclosures do not demonstrate a significant stockpile of contributions to back 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, but offered no response to additional questions about Tether US.
The PAC became active again this month when it announced its chairman would be Jesse Spiro, the vice president of regulatory affairs for Tether's US arm. The Fellowship PAC has begun listing endorsements for Republican politicians seeking House and Senate seats, and says it will begin actively supporting candidates aligned with its vision of fostering economic growth and reinforcing the US as a global leader in next-generation financial infrastructure.
The PAC's first recipient of financial support, Fuller, is an incoming Republican member of the House of Representatives, and the money spent by the Fellowship super PAC was an independent expenditure, meaning it had to be handled without strategizing with Fuller's campaign. The firm paid by Fellowship PAC, Nxum, was co-founded by Hines, who filed ethics disclosures last year as a White House official, and it is unclear whether financial ties remain between Hines and Nxum. 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. 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.