A marketing firm co-founded by Bo Hines — the former White House crypto adviser who now serves as Tether US CEO — was paid $3 million by a political action committee tied to allies of stablecoin giant Tether, according to fresh Federal Election Commission filings.
What the FEC filings show
- The Fellowship PAC reported $11 million in contributions made in January 2026: $10 million from Cantor Fitzgerald and $1 million from Anchor Labs (the parent company of crypto bank Anchorage Digital).
- Fellowship’s spending included a $3 million payment to Nxum Group, a marketing and issue-advocacy shop co-founded by Hines, listed as “issue advocacy advertising.”
- Fellowship is led by Tether’s head of government affairs. Its treasurer, Mitchell Nobel, has listed a role as Cantor Fitzgerald’s director of digital asset strategy since August 2025 — the same period Fellowship registered with the FEC. That creates an overlap between the PAC’s largest donor and a top PAC officer.
Context and implications
- Hines’ overlapping roles — former government adviser, Tether US CEO, and co-founder of a firm paid by a PAC connected to Tether allies — put him at the center of a network of political and industry ties that link the PAC’s spending back to the Tether ecosystem.
- The fundraising totals disclosed in January fall far short of Fellowship’s initial September 2025 claim that it had “secured over $100 million” from crypto-aligned backers. FEC records show no contributions above $200 between Aug. 7 and Dec. 31, 2025. The $11 million covers only January, and additional large donations could still be reported later because of FEC reporting windows.
Other donors and activity
- Anchorage/Anchor Labs had earlier signaled political ambitions, announcing in March plans to join Chainlink in backing the Blockchain Leadership Fund, a hybrid PAC that can directly support candidates. Anchorage said it intended a “meaningful contribution” to be reported to the FEC, but as of the latest filings no additional Anchorage-related entries had appeared.
- Fellowship has already started spending on targeted races: reports indicate about $1.5 million in media buys supporting Republican candidates in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District and in U.S. Senate races in Nebraska and Kentucky. All three states face party primaries in May.
Why it matters
These disclosures illustrate how major players in crypto and traditional finance are deploying large sums into political advocacy and candidate-focused media. The connections among donors, PAC leadership, and vendor payments underscore the growing overlap between crypto industry lobbying and U.S. electoral politics — and suggest filings to the FEC over the coming weeks will be closely watched for additional disclosures.
Image credit: Unsplash; chart: TradingView.
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