A new investigation reports that former White House crypto advisor Bo Hines helped shape a stablecoin law while, at the same time, a consulting firm he co-owned received millions of dollars from Tether, the industry’s biggest player. Hines then joined Tether’s new U.S. division shortly after leaving the government.
The investigation, conducted by the Wall Street Journal, found that Nxum, a consulting firm Hines cofounded in 2022, earned $6.3 million under a deal to develop a “strategic brand and public affairs plan” for El Salvador–based Tether. Payments began while Hines, then 29, was leading the White House push for the Genius Act, a law regulating stablecoins, or dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies. He reportedly stepped back from managing the firm when he joined the administration but kept his one-third ownership stake.
Hines left the White House weeks after President Donald Trump signed the bill into law in July 2025. Tether hired him the following month to lead its new U.S. division, as the company continued paying millions to Nxum, according to the Journal.
The controversy surrounding Hines adds to scrutiny of potential conflicts of interest between the Trump administration’s crypto policies and the private business interests of the president and his advisors. Trump has championed the industry and pushed Congress to pass crypto legislation while his family has launched ventures including his namesake memecoin and World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance platform. His latest financial disclosure revealed $1.4 billion in crypto-related wealth, largely tied to those two ventures, Fortune reported in July.
Hines cofounded Nxum in 2022 with his father, Todd Hines, and marketing executive Gary Dennis, with each partner holding equal ownership stakes. The small firm presented its business as spanning media, consulting, and investments. Beyond the three founders, its website reportedly listed just one employee: chief investment officer Nav Singh, who was sentenced to 21 months in prison in 2018 after pleading guilty to fraud in a bribery case involving New York’s state pension fund.
Nxum’s work ahead of the 2024 election included helping create Restore the Republic, a Trump-themed memecoin. It also contributed $1 million in billboard ads to MAGA Inc., a super PAC supporting Trump.
A potential Tether deal took shape in April 2025, when Peter Vincer, a marketing entrepreneur who had worked with Nxum on previous business deals, arranged for Todd Hines and Dennis to meet Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino near Central Park in New York, per the Journal. Bo Hines was then working to advance the Genius Act from inside the White House.
Vincer reportedly followed up with a draft “Tether Comprehensive Brand Plan” proposing that Nxum oversee “strategic lobbying and a full scale public relations and media awareness campaign” for the stablecoin issuer.
The final agreement omitted references to lobbying, with Vincer’s agency, Notorious, signing the contract with Tether as an intermediary for Nxum. But Nxum was expected to perform the work: A planning document stated that “Nxum will engage all necessary parties and lead the entire process,” the Journal reported.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com