USAT plays three cards, so why does Tether urgently need a "legitimate clone" to ensure compliance and security?

Authors: Peggy and Lin Wanwan, BlockBeats

The most stable asset in the cryptocurrency market is a dollar without an official identity card. Over the past decade, USDT has transformed itself into the “de facto dollar” of the crypto world, backed by $170 billion in assets and ubiquitous liquidity. But as it becomes more successful, its identity anxiety sharpens: a dollar without U.S. backing is always a loophole.

In recent years, Circle has applied for a trust bank license, Paxos has built a global clearing network, and Visa and Mastercard have increased their efforts in stablecoin settlement. In contrast, Tether has remained within the narrative of an “offshore shadow empire.”

Under regulatory pressure and competition, in September 2025, Tether’s parent company finally presented a new answer: USAT. This is its first attempt to fill the long-missing identity card.

At the same time, Tether appointed 29-year-old former White House advisor Bo Hines as CEO. Ten years ago, he was a star wide receiver on Yale’s football team; now, he is pushed onto the most sensitive battlefield of the global financial market, becoming Tether’s “legitimate face” in the U.S.

Hines is not a parachute appointment. In January 2025, the White House established the Presidential Digital Asset Advisory Committee, with his name prominently on the executive director list. At only 28, he participated in drafting the GENIUS Act, laying the foundation for the U.S. stablecoin regulatory framework. Just a few months later, he resigned from the White House and joined Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, taking on the task of “expanding territory” in the U.S. market.

For Tether, this is a strategic move to deeply embed itself into the U.S. political and regulatory system. Hines’s addition is both a bargaining chip in Washington and the first step in actively correcting the “shadow empire” image.

But this is only the beginning. What truly gives USAT a chance to shed the “offshore dollar clone” impression is its behind-the-scenes designed compliance strategy: from introducing top U.S. political and economic resources to connecting with traditional financial market systems, Tether aims to use three key moves to write itself into the U.S. regulatory narrative and capital market logic.

The issuance of USAT is not just an expansion of the stablecoin landscape. It signifies that Tether is beginning to establish a “legitimate clone” mechanism: no longer content with being a global capital channel, but aiming to reshape its identity into a compliant part of the U.S. financial order.

The Birth of a Legitimate Clone: USAT’s Three Moves

In recent years, stablecoins have become one of the most delicate assets in financial history. They are neither fully dollars nor entirely cryptocurrencies, but over the past five years, they have penetrated every corner of the globe. Approaching a valuation of $500 billion, Tether has built a massive “shadow dollar” system with USDT: in Latin America, it is a lifeline for remittances; in Africa, it replaces local inflationary currencies; in Southeast Asia, it becomes a cross-border e-commerce settlement tool.

However, as the largest provider of this system, Tether has always operated within regulatory gaps. Ambiguous audits, complex offshore structures, and shadows of money laundering and sanctions have led to its label as a “shadow empire.” For U.S. regulators, Tether’s existence is a paradox: on one hand, it promotes the globalization of the dollar; on the other, it is viewed as a potential systemic risk. A globally circulated “digital dollar” that lacks U.S. legal identity.

This identity dislocation finally forced Tether to deliver a new solution. In September 2025, it launched USAT specifically targeting the U.S. market. This is not just an iteration but an experiment with three key elements: people, money, and制度 (system). Tether aims to use these three steps to see if a shadow dollar can be accepted within the U.S. narrative.

First Card: People

The first card of USAT is people—the political endorsement of Bo Hines.

Bo Hines, 29. During college, he was a starting wide receiver on Yale’s football team. An injury ended his athletic career early, and he then entered politics.

Bo Hines (in red) playing football, source: Yale Daily News

In 2020, he ran for Congress as a Republican candidate but was unsuccessful. Afterward, he entered policy circles. Starting in 2023, Hines served on the White House Digital Asset Advisory Committee, later becoming an executive director. According to public records, during his tenure, he participated in drafting the GENIUS Act, the first legislative draft for stablecoin regulation in the U.S., which served as a reference for subsequent proposals.

In August 2025, Hines left the White House. On August 19, Tether announced that Hines would join as a strategic advisor, responsible for compliance and policy communication in the U.S. market. The same announcement also stated that a U.S.-regulated stablecoin—USAT—would be launched in the coming months.

Bo Hines attending an event and delivering a speech, source: CCN

Less than a month later, in September 2025, Tether announced the launch of USAT and officially appointed Hines as the first CEO of USAT. This means he will lead the product’s business development and regulatory interface in the U.S. market.

Public information shows this is Tether’s first time introducing a high-level executive with a White House background into management. Previously, Tether’s management team mainly had financial or technical backgrounds, lacking direct U.S. policy experience.

Hines’s involvement makes USAT tightly linked to the U.S. regulatory environment from the start.

Second Card: Money

The second card is giving Tether’s reserves a set of credit backing. In the past, Tether’s reserve composition has been controversial. Early audit documents showed that USDT reserves included大量商業票據、短期貸款以及難以追溯的資產組合 (large amounts of commercial paper, short-term loans, and traceability-challenged assets). These assets lacked transparency and became the main focus of external scrutiny: does Tether really hold “one dollar per token”?

In USAT’s design, Tether attempts to dispel these doubts. The September 2025 announcement states that the reserve custodian for USAT is Cantor Fitzgerald. Founded in 1945, this investment bank is one of the primary dealers for the U.S. Treasury, long involved in underwriting and distributing U.S. bonds, with a solid credit reputation on Wall Street.

According to Tether’s plan, Cantor Fitzgerald will ensure that USAT’s reserves are mainly U.S. Treasuries. This means the backing value of USAT will no longer rely on complex offshore asset structures but will be directly anchored in the liquidity and credit system of the U.S. Treasury market.

This arrangement deepens Tether’s integration with the U.S. financial system: from a “shadow dollar” supplier to a “distributor on the U.S. debt chain.” Public information also indicates that this is the first time Tether explicitly introduces a Wall Street primary dealer as a core partner in its product.

Third Card: System

The issuance and compliance of USAT will be managed by Anchorage Digital Bank. This is one of the first digital asset banks in the U.S. to obtain a federal trust license and one of the few entities directly regulated by federal authorities. Unlike USDT, which relies on offshore structures, USAT’s reserves and audit processes will be incorporated into the U.S. regulatory framework. This not only complies with the GENIUS Act’s requirements for stablecoin issuance but also signifies that Tether has completed a “regulatory registration” at the制度層面 (system level).

The choice of location is also noteworthy. Tether will set USAT’s headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina—the second-largest financial center in the U.S., home to traditional financial institutions like U.S. banks. Compared to New York and Washington, Charlotte has a strong financial atmosphere and is relatively far from the regulatory spotlight. This detail indicates that Tether is not satisfied with just制度設計的變化 (system design changes), but is also trying to “truly land” in practical operations.

Image of U.S. Bank’s corporate center in Charlotte, source: SkyscraperCenter

USAT, therefore, is not just an additional stablecoin but a formal handshake with the U.S. market. The political figure Bo Hines, the financial partner Cantor Fitzgerald, and the制度上的 (system-level) Anchorage form a complete compliance strategy: transforming Tether from a “shadow dollar” provider into a “regulated participant.”

But how far this transformation can go remains uncertain. Tether’s core nature has not changed: its business remains globalized, its structure offshore, and capital flows still complex. USAT may bring a U.S. ID card, but it cannot immediately change the market’s fundamental perception of Tether.

The launch of USAT signifies that Tether’s stablecoin issuance is extending into a process of identity reconstruction: the shadow dollar begins knocking on Wall Street’s door.

Will the Stablecoin Market Reshuffle?

In the U.S. market, Tether’s new move directly targets Circle and its USDC.

Over the past few years, USDC has been the representative of the compliant U.S. market. But compared to USDT, USDC’s size and circulation are much smaller. As of September 2025, its market cap is about $70 billion, accounting for roughly 25–26% of the stablecoin market.

Although only one-third of USDT’s size, USDC has established solid trust in U.S. politics and Wall Street through exclusive cooperation with Coinbase and endorsements from institutions like BlackRock.

Circle even repurchased shares of the joint venture Center in 2024, becoming the sole issuer of USDC to further strengthen control. For a long time, the implicit narrative of USDC has been: U.S. compliance = safety, offshore markets = risk.

However, this path also gives Tether room to exert pressure.

Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, has repeatedly emphasized that the significance of USAT is to break the potential monopoly USDC might form in the U.S. market.

He straightforwardly states: “Without USAT, the U.S. stablecoin market could be locked in the hands of just a few institutions.” In other words, USAT’s strategic mission is not just a product upgrade but a direct market confrontation with USDC.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino speaking at the 2025 Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas, source: Nasdaq

Tether’s launch of USAT is an attempt to leverage its massive scale to fill the “compliance gap.” The significance of USAT lies in enabling Tether to combine both size and compliance for the first time, posing a direct threat to USDC’s moat.

If Circle is a top-down compliance advocate rooted in the U.S., then Tether is constructing a “dual narrative”: maintaining a vast “gray empire” network globally while creating a “compliant clone” in the U.S. market.

The future stablecoin landscape is likely to evolve into a “dual-track” pattern: USDT continues to dominate in emerging markets like Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, while USAT focuses on the U.S. and institutional clients. This structure can both sustain Tether’s advantage in emerging markets and attract more institutional capital through compliance, injecting new growth momentum into the entire sector.

For Tether, this is not just issuing a new coin or pushing for a listing; it’s a transformation of identity. If it can go public in the U.S. capital markets, it can completely shed the “shadow empire” label and step onto the global financial stage as a “dollar company.”

But Tether’s offensive will inevitably provoke responses from competitors. Circle may accelerate cooperation with regulators and institutions to further solidify USDC’s compliance moat; licensed issuers like Paxos might expand their presence in payments and cross-border settlement markets; traditional financial giants like Visa, Mastercard, and Wall Street investment banks are exploring how to embed stablecoins into existing systems. It is foreseeable that the launch of USAT will not only mark Tether’s identity shift but also ignite a new round of competition in the stablecoin arena.

Epilogue

The launch of USAT offers Tether unprecedented opportunities but also introduces new risks. Will the market believe that a “shadow empire” plagued with doubts can truly cut itself off with a compliant clone?

Historical experience shows that the “whitewashing” of gray forces is not without precedent.

In the late 19th century, American society was generally distrustful of financial capital, and the Morgan family was even called “financial oligarchs.” Strictly speaking, Morgan did not violate the law, but in an era lacking modern regulation, his vast capital and influence were often seen as “hijacking public interests,” making him a “gray force” of that time.

However, banker J.P. Morgan changed his image through concrete actions: helping the government issue bonds, resolving fiscal crises, and restructuring railway debts. Over time, he transformed from a “capital oligarch” into a “national financial agent.”

Today, Tether’s approach of大量購買美債、推動合規版穩定幣 (massive purchases of U.S. bonds and promoting compliant stablecoins), is somewhat similar to Morgan’s strategy—solving national problems to gain legitimacy.

J.P. Morgan’s historic office on Wall Street, source: NYC Urbanism

But not all “gray giants” can successfully complete such a transformation.

As the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance initially operated almost entirely offshore, outside regulation. In recent years, it has applied for licenses in markets like France and Abu Dhabi, attempting to move toward compliance and enter the U.S. market. But in the U.S., it faced the strictest regulatory resistance and had to scale back and tighten its operations. This cautionary tale shows that gray giants seeking “whitewashing” will not be easily permitted by regulators.

This means Tether’s future remains uncertain. Transparency of reserves, compliance enforcement, and interactions with regulators will continue to be key indicators to watch in the coming years.

Meanwhile, competition is accelerating.

Circle is applying for a U.S. national trust bank license to strengthen its compliance capabilities and further solidify ties with regulators and institutional investors; Paxos has revealed a significant increase in demand for its stablecoin infrastructure and is partnering with Mastercard to launch a “global U.S. dollar network,” aiming to expand the use of U.S. dollar stablecoins; Visa is continuously expanding support for stable payment settlement, trying to embed stablecoins into existing payment systems. Additionally, Plasma is exploring on-chain clearing and cross-border payments, attempting to embed stablecoins directly into the underlying infrastructure of global payment networks.

The stablecoin market is moving from early wild growth into a more intense and institutionalized competition phase.

USAT marks Tether’s first attempt to submit an ID card in Washington. The real test is not on the blockchain but at the negotiation table: who can leave a name on the regulatory agenda and thus qualify to define the next generation of digital dollars. Whether the shadow empire can step into the sunlight remains the greatest suspense in crypto finance.