The crypto’s industry emerging political action committee, Fellowship PAC, rushed out of the gate this month with $11 million in backing, and it’s so far booked $3 million in ad services through a company co-founded by Tether US CEO Bo Hines.
The super PAC is focusing its support on Republican politicians in races for Congress and a governorship, and it so far gathered $10 million from Cantor Fitzgerald and $1 million from crypto bank Anchorage Digital, according to Federal Election Commission filings released Wednesday. Its initial $3 million spent toward political advertising for its favored candidates has gone to Nxum Group, a company that was founded by Hines (who was President Donald Trump’s crypto adviser until he moved to Tether last year), his father and another partner.
While Fellowship has been reportedly associated with Tether from its inception last year and has a senior executive of Tether as its chairman, the bulk of its funding came from New York financial-services giant Cantor, which handles the reserves for Tether’s industry-leading stablecoin business. Cantor’s former chief, Howard Lutnick, now serves as Trump’s Commerce Secretary, and his children have taken over the business.
Neither Tether US nor Cantor immediately responded to a request for comment on their involvement with the super PAC. When Fellowship first went public, it announced it would wield $100 million (an amount that would rival the leading crypto PAC, Fairshake). Fellowship’s treasurer is an executive at Cantor.
So far, the PAC, which hasn’t responded to requests for comment, has devoted $300,000 to support Clay Fuller, the newest member of the U.S. House of Representatives who just took over Marjorie Taylor Green’s seat in a Georgia special election; $850,000 to back Nate Morris for a U.S. Senate seat in Kentucky; and $350,000 to support incumbent Nebraska Senator Pete Ricketts, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
The filings disclosed that Nxum has received $3 million in disbursements for advertising. Before now, Nxum didn’t yet have a significant track record in serving PACs or campaigns, with its primary claim to fame associated with $1 million in billboard ads it donated to MAGA Inc. in 2024, shortly after Hines took a high-profile job at the White House.
When its formation was announced last year, Fellowship said it had $100 million in pledged backing and would champion transparency as it supported pro-crypto candidates. That promised level hasn’t yet appeared,
Anchorage Digital — the first crypto-native bank to win a U.S. federal charter — called its contribution an investment in the U.S. crypto policy process.
“Anchorage Digital has made a corporate contribution to the Fellowship PAC as part of our broader, bipartisan approach to advancing regulatory clarity for digital assets in the United States,” the company said in a statement, also posting a message on its website.
Despite involvement from Tether executives in Fellowship’s work, it’s unclear whether Tether or its U.S. arm, Tether US, would be able to make direct contributions to the PAC. Non-U.S. entities aren’t allowed to get directly involved in U.S. campaign finances.
Read More: Super PAC tied to Tether makes first ad buy from firm founded by Tether’s U.S. CEO
