Tether’s former CIO plans sale of stake in stablecoin giant
Raphael Zagury's planned divestiture comes as Tether explores capital raises that could value the company at up to $500 billion
Raphael Zagury, Tether’s former chief investment officer, is looking to sell his stake in the company behind the world’s largest stablecoin. The move would mark a rare liquidity event for an insider at one of crypto’s most profitable and opaque enterprises.
The planned sale arrives at an interesting moment. Tether has reportedly been exploring capital raises in the range of $15 billion to $20 billion, with potential valuations stretching as high as $500 billion.
A quiet exit from a loud company
Zagury’s departure from Tether’s C-suite preceded this planned stake sale. After serving as CIO, he pivoted to leading Bitcoin mining initiatives through Elektron Energy, a venture that aligns with Tether’s own expanding footprint in mining operations.
The specifics of the sale, including the size of the stake, potential buyers, and timeline, remain unclear.
When a former top executive at a company sitting on more than $187 billion in reported assets decides to sell, the market pays attention. Tether doesn’t trade on public markets. It doesn’t file quarterly earnings with the SEC. The only real window into its financials comes from periodic attestation reports and the occasional headline. A stake sale, even a private one, forces some level of price discovery.
The Tether empire keeps expanding
Under CEO Paolo Ardoino, who took the top job in late 2023 after serving as CTO, Tether has been on an aggressive expansion tear. The company’s reserve assets are primarily held in US Treasuries.
Tether has made equity investments in firms like Rumble, the video platform, and Bit2Me, a European crypto exchange. It has pushed deeper into Bitcoin mining. And it has explored potential mergers tied to treasury operations and mining infrastructure.
Tether’s parent company, iFinex, retains considerable voting power in affiliated entities. That governance structure means even as individual stakeholders like Zagury look to cash out, operational control likely stays concentrated among a small group of decision-makers.
What this means for investors
A $500 billion valuation would make Tether more valuable than all but a handful of US banks. Whether the market ultimately supports that number depends heavily on regulatory outcomes. US stablecoin legislation has been working its way through Congress, and the final shape of those rules will determine whether Tether can continue operating with its current level of autonomy or faces new compliance burdens that crimp margins.
The broader stablecoin competitive landscape is heating up. Circle, the issuer of USDC, has been pursuing its own public listing. PayPal already launched PYUSD. Every new entrant chips away at the argument that Tether’s dominance is permanent, even if USDâ‚® currently commands the lion’s share of stablecoin market capitalization.