SoftBank and ARK Invest in discussions to join Tether’s multibillion-dollar funding round

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SoftBank, a Japanese investment conglomerate, and $ARK Invest, a US-based investment firm focused on disruptive innovation, are in talks to participate in a major funding round for Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin $USDT, Bloomberg reported today.

Tether is seeking $15-20 billion in new capital through a private placement that would value the company at around $500 billion. The funding round would position Tether to rival OpenAI as one of the most valuable private companies globally.

The stablecoin operator plans to use the capital to fuel expansion beyond its core stablecoin business. Tether’s $USDT token maintains a market capitalization of over $170 billion and serves as a key infrastructure component in crypto trading.

SoftBank has been actively expanding its crypto investments, recently seeding Bitcoin-focused ventures with billions in capital. The conglomerate’s potential participation reflects growing institutional interest in stablecoin infrastructure.

$ARK Invest, led by Cathie Wood, has been negotiating participation in several high-profile crypto funding deals amid surging institutional adoption of digital assets. The firm’s involvement would mark another major move into the crypto sector.

The funding talks highlight accelerating institutional interest in stablecoins as core crypto infrastructure, with major investment firms deploying significant capital into the sector.