Tether Buys Into US Banking System with $100M Anchorage Stake

Tether has deployed $100 million in equity into Anchorage Digital, valuing the federally chartered crypto bank at $4.2 billion. The deal, confirmed Thursday, formally anchors Tether’s operations to US regulatory soil just months after the launch of its onshore stablecoin, USAT.

The investment comes as broader crypto markets faced a sharp drawdown, with majors bleeding value while Tether utilized its $10 billion 2025 profit surplus to secure critical banking rails. Unlike a standard venture check, this capital injection includes a tender offer for long-term Anchorage employees, a rare liquidity event in a choked IPO market.

The GENIUS Act Play

This is not a passive investment. It is a strategic lock-in of the plumbing required for USAT, Tether’s answer to the GENIUS Act passed in July 2025. While USDT remains the offshore liquidity engine ($160B+ market cap), USAT is structured specifically for the federally supervised parameters defined by the new law.

Anchorage Digital, holding the only OCC-issued national trust charter for a digital asset bank, serves as the exclusive issuer for USAT. By taking a minority stake, Tether effectively verticalizes its compliance stack, moving from a vendor relationship to partial ownership of its primary US regulator-facing partner.

“Tether exists to challenge the status quo and build global infrastructure for freedom. Our investment in Anchorage Digital reflects a shared belief in the importance of secure, transparent and resilient financial systems.”, Paolo Ardoino, Tether CEO

Onshore Pivot

The deal marks a definitive shift in Tether’s geopolitical strategy. After settling for $41 million with the CFTC years ago and operating primarily outside US jurisdiction, the stablecoin giant is now buying its way into the American banking perimeter. The capital strengthens Anchorage’s balance sheet, likely satisfying heightened capital requirements for stablecoin issuers under the new federal framework.

For Anchorage, the valuation bump to $4.2 billion signals institutional resilience despite the week’s market volatility. The bank is now positioned as the systemic bridge between offshore capital (Tether) and onshore settlement (Federal Reserve rails), a status that could fast-track its own IPO ambitions if market conditions stabilize in Q2.