From Cantor to Securitize, the crypto circle spent 18 million dollars to buy Washington

Author: Ashley, Rhythm BlockBeats

Trump returned to the White House this year, hosting the most luxurious inauguration week in history. According to Forbes, donations from corporate supporters and executives reached a record-breaking $239 million. Among them, the cryptocurrency industry, as one of Trump's most active supporters, contributed $18 million. Ripple, which has long been at odds with the SEC, donated nearly $4.9 million, ranking second among all donors. Of course, this money was well spent. The SEC subsequently dropped its lawsuits or threats against donors to Trump's inauguration fund, including Coinbase, Crypto.com, Uniswap, Yuga Labs, Kraken, and Ripple.

Data Source: Forbes

Last week, the Financial Times reported that the Wall Street veteran financial giant Cantor Fitzgerald is teaming up with SoftBank, Tether, and Bitfinex to form a Bitcoin investment alliance with a scale exceeding $3 billion. Notably, the head of this financial giant, Brandon Lutnick, is the son of U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. Against the backdrop of the Trump administration's push for cryptocurrency-friendly policies, this investment alliance has provided the market with considerable imagination regarding the relationship between politics and business.

Tether's Behind-the-Scenes Hand, Both Political and Commercial Cantor

Cantor Fitzgerald, a Wall Street veteran financial company founded in 1945, is known for government securities trading, investment banking services, and bond brokerage. As one of the 24 primary dealers for the U.S. Treasury, Cantor is directly involved in the issuance and trading of government bonds, maintaining close business ties with the Federal Reserve and the Treasury. The company's operations span over 20 countries worldwide, employing more than 12,500 people.

However, what truly set Cantor apart is its relationship with Tether. For the mid-sized investment bank Cantor located in Midtown Manhattan, Tether has become its most lucrative client, serving as the primary custodian of Tether's dollar reserves and managing 99% of its U.S. Treasury bond reserves, amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars.

The relationship between Cantor and Tether is mutually beneficial. Tether once struggled to turn a profit but now earns billions in interest annually from the government debt held at Cantor. According to Forbes, Cantor not only provides high-security custody but also leverages its expertise in the bond market to assist Tether in converting high-risk commercial paper into low-risk U.S. Treasury bonds, significantly reducing systemic risk. An insider revealed that Cantor purchased short-term Treasury bonds with maturities of 3-6 months for Tether, ensuring high liquidity and adjusting the ratio of Treasury bonds to cash through a dynamic asset management system, generating approximately $2 billion in interest income for Tether in 2023, accounting for nearly one-third of its $5.6 billion profit that year.

One of the key figures facilitating the collaboration between these two companies is Howard Lutnick. The 63-year-old billionaire, former CEO of Cantor, has made his bank the backbone of the Tether system. After federal regulators made it easier for banks to hold digital assets in 2020, he sought ways to enter the cryptocurrency industry and learned about Tether. Cantor manages Tether's U.S. Treasury bond portfolio, which amounts to $39 billion, making it the custodian of the dollar assets backing Tether's stablecoin USDT. Currently, the market capitalization of Tether tokens exceeds $130 billion, with Cantor holding most of the U.S. Treasury bonds that support these tokens.

Former Cantor CEO Howard Lutnick

The connection between these two companies dates back to 2021. At that time, Tether had already issued over 50 billion tokens, but there were persistent doubts about whether it truly held an equivalent $50 billion in reserves. In February of that year, the company's owners agreed to pay $18.5 million in fines to the New York Attorney General to settle allegations of false statements regarding its reserves. Due to several U.S. banks refusing to process the company's transactions and major regulators fearing that Tether might collapse in a bank run, the company faced a crisis. At a critical moment, Howard stepped in to provide a guarantee for Tether. According to insiders, in return, Tether paid Cantor tens of millions of dollars, and Cantor acquired a minority stake in Tether.

Previously, Tether had kept most of its funds in accounts at Bahamian banks and invested part of its reserves in risky assets like Chinese commercial paper for returns. This operational model made it highly dependent on Bahamian banks' ability to interface with U.S. banks. However, when Tether paid a $41 million fine to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in October 2021 for false statements about its reserves, this channel was severely threatened.

After obtaining sufficient evidence to confirm that Tether indeed held all its reserves, Howard proposed a solution. As a primary dealer of U.S. Treasury bonds, Cantor could easily access a large amount of safe U.S. Treasury assets. He promised that as long as Tether converted its held assets into U.S. Treasury bills, Cantor would be willing to become its client.

On Tether's side, the contact with Howard was through CFO and major shareholder Giancarlo Devasini. According to the Wall Street Journal, their interactions were quite secretive, with Howard "only allowing a select few employees to know about the connection between Cantor and Tether, limited to a few top executives." He often personally handled this relationship with Devasini and met with him on private jets.

This Italian entrepreneur, who previously dabbled in plastic trading, is considered Tether's "shadow helmsman." Devasini has stated that Cantor's custody services enable the company to "more efficiently meet regulatory requirements for liquidity and stability," believing that "Howard will leverage his political influence to try to eliminate threats to Tether." Howard also places great importance on the collaboration with Tether; in the investment agreement reached last year, he rarely took the lead in negotiations, allowing Cantor to acquire about 5% of Tether, which was valued at $600 million.

As a patriarch, Howard is also paving the way for the next generation's network. This Bitcoin investment alliance is being spearheaded by Howard's son, Brandon, who plans to integrate Tether's $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, SoftBank's $900 million, and Bitfinex's $600 million. This model easily brings to mind MicroStrategy (now rebranded as Strategy), a company that achieved a market capitalization surge to $91 billion by hoarding Bitcoin.

Interestingly, Brandon had previously interned at Tether and was instrumental in introducing Tether to the right-wing video platform Rumble Inc. According to Bloomberg, Cantor facilitated Tether's $775 million investment in the right-wing video site Rumble Inc. When this deal was announced, Rumble's stock price surged by 81%, and Cantor's stake in Rumble increased in value by $54 million.

Brandon Lutnick (far left); Howard Lutnick (second from left)

In February of this year, Howard narrowly won the appointment as Secretary of Commerce with a vote of 51 to 45. The former Cantor CEO has publicly supported Tether multiple times: "I hold their Treasury bonds, and they have a lot of Treasury bonds. I am a loyal fan of Tether," emphasizing the contribution of stablecoins to the U.S. economy.

Although when Howard was appointed as a Commerce Department official, he stated that he would resign from his position in the financial company and "intended to sell his shares in these companies to comply with U.S. government ethical standards," opposing voices have persisted. Senator Elizabeth Warren expressed her concerns: "I am deeply worried about Howard Lutnick's past connections with a sanctioned entity (i.e., Tether). The Secretary of Commerce should fight for the interests of the United States—not for his personal interests or those of former clients that undermine our national security."

Looking at it now, Howard has indeed fulfilled his promise to resign from his position at Cantor to avoid direct ties with Tether. However, this baton was arranged early on and handed over to Brandon.

From the Commerce Department to the SEC, the "Brotherhood" Between the Crypto Circle and the Trump Administration

The combination of Cantor and Tether is not an isolated case. The world's largest asset management company, BlackRock, established the BUIDL fund in 2024, which has become a leader in the RWA track with over $2.5 billion in assets under management this year. The designated custodian for BUIDL is a company called Securitize. Unlike Cantor's traditional financial background, Securitize is a cryptocurrency company founded in 2017, focusing on blockchain technology and digital asset securitization.

Why would BlackRock suddenly invest in a cryptocurrency company? This may be related to Securitize's network. If you look solely at Securitize's management, you might not think of it as a cryptocurrency company, but rather as a traditional financial newcomer with a gathering of Wall Street executives. However, don't limit your view to Wall Street; if you look at Washington, you'll find that Securitize hired former SEC Trading and Markets Division Director Brett Redfearn in 2021, who currently serves as a senior strategic advisor and chairman of the advisory board.

The relationship with the SEC goes beyond that; Securitize is also closely connected with newly appointed SEC Chairman Paul Atkins. Paul Atkins joined Securitize back in 2019, serving as a member of the advisory board and board member, holding up to $500,000 in call options, and just recently stepped down in February of this year. Coincidentally, in the same year, Securitize became an SEC-registered broker-dealer and an SEC-regulated alternative trading system (ATS) operator.

When Trump announced his nomination of Atkins as the next SEC chairman, Securitize's CEO Carlos Domingo specifically congratulated him on LinkedIn: "We are incredibly pleased with this appointment; while we lose an excellent advisor, we also welcome an outstanding new SEC chairman." At the same time, Securitize's official LinkedIn account also created a special congratulatory graphic.

Not only the SEC, but Carlos Domingo also seems to have a good relationship with the White House's "crypto czar" David Sacks. Although David Sacks does not have direct business dealings with Securitize, Domingo was invited to attend the "Crypto Ball" held in Washington in February this year, where he "met Sacks again," and afterwards wrote a lengthy article reviewing Sacks' early views on tokenization and RWA.

The Best Channel for "Political Monetization"?

When it comes to the political influence binding personal brands for marketing in the crypto circle, who is the first person that comes to mind? Although in 2021, Trump referred to Bitcoin as a "scam" on Fox Business, three years later, the DeFi project WLFI, supported by the Trump family, made a high-profile appearance with a valuation of $1.5 billion in October 2024. Trump himself serves as the "Chief Crypto Advocate," with his son Barron Trump as the "DeFi Visionary," while Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. actively promote the project. In March 2025, WLFI launched its own stablecoin USD1, operating on the Ethereum and Binance blockchains, competing with Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC.

The sources of funding and investment portfolio for WLFI are the focus of public attention. WLFI raised $550 million through two token sales, with Justin Sun investing $30 million as a key supporter. Previously, Justin Sun faced an SEC lawsuit for alleged securities fraud, but in February 2025, the SEC suspended its investigation into him. According to Forbes, Sun's investment brought about $400 million in potential profits to the Trump family, as the family holds 75% of the WLFI token revenue.

The Trump family's layout in the cryptocurrency field is continuously expanding, with their investment portfolio far exceeding the WLFI project. According to Bloomberg's calculations based on public data, the family has diversified investments through NFTs, meme coins, Bitcoin ETFs, and mining, currently nearing the $1 billion mark in paper profits.

Trump's first exposure to cryptocurrency likely occurred in December 2022 when he launched a series of NFT trading cards with a personal touch. These digital collectibles, featuring images of superheroes and other themes, were proposed by Trump's old friend, Bill Zanker, founder of The Learning Annex, and sparked a buying frenzy in the collectibles market upon release. It now seems that this successful trial run may have alerted Trump to the business opportunities in cryptocurrency.

Entering 2025, the Trump family's actions in the crypto space have noticeably accelerated. In January, Trump and his wife launched personal meme coins, with initial prices skyrocketing, bringing in $11.4 million in profits. Through their entities CIC Digital and Fight Fight Fight LLC, the Trump family controls 80% of the token supply and has set up a three-year gradual unlocking mechanism. Just last week, Trump announced that the top 220 holders of $TRUMP would have the opportunity to dine with him.

In February of this year, Trump Media & Technology Group partnered with Crypto.com to apply for the "Truth.Fi Bitcoin Plus ETF," coincidentally as the SEC concluded its investigation into Crypto.com. By the end of March, the Trump family took a further step, announcing a partnership with the well-known North American mining company Hut 8 to enter the Bitcoin mining sector, even launching a dollar-pegged stablecoin USD1 to compete with Tether and Circle for market share.

From the President to the Secretary of Commerce, then to the SEC Chairman and "crypto czar," these key figures' intersections with the cryptocurrency industry seem to form a tightly-knit interest loop. As the cryptocurrency-friendly policies promoted by the Trump administration gradually take shape, Cantor, Securitize, and WLFI may only be a microcosm of the entire industry; perhaps this "cycle" is just beginning. As for the binding of interests and the cryptocurrency layout of government officials, whether it will trigger stricter public scrutiny and regulatory review or has already become an accepted fact or even a new "unwritten rule" remains to be seen.