Former Tether CIO Seeks Partial Stake Sale Through PJT Partners

Former Tether chief investment officer Richard Heathcote is working with PJT Partners to sell part of his 1.26% holding in Tether Holdings SA, putting one of crypto’s most profitable private companies back into the secondary-market spotlight.

The partial stake sale is in discussions with potential buyers, while no valuation for the transaction has been disclosed. Heathcote stepped down as CIO in March and moved into an advisory role after overseeing the investment portfolio behind USDT, the world’s largest stablecoin.

The size of the holding gives the process market weight even if only a small portion changes hands. At a reported secondary-market range of $350 billion to $375 billion, Heathcote’s full 1.26% stake would be worth roughly $4.4 billion to $4.7 billion.

Private Valuation Stays Under Pressure

The sale effort follows earlier fundraising talks that placed Tether in rare private-company territory. A proposed raise of $15 billion to $20 billion for roughly 3% of the company would have implied a valuation near $500 billion, making Tether one of the most valuable private companies in global finance.

That process later slowed as investors pushed for more visibility into Tether’s financials. The company has relied on quarterly attestations rather than a full audit, a distinction that remains central to how outside investors value the issuer. Tether generated $1.04 billion in Q1 profit and expanded its reserve buffer to $8.23 billion, with direct and indirect U.S. Treasury exposure reaching about $141 billion.

Tether had about $191.8 billion in total assets against about $183.5 billion in liabilities as of March 31. The company also began a formal audit process, while its quarterly figures remained based on an assurance opinion tied to a point-in-time reserve snapshot.

Tether’s Scale Keeps Secondary Shares In Focus

The secondary-sale process does not directly change USDT’s issuance, reserves or redemption mechanics. It does, however, shows how Tether’s ownership structure is drawing more attention as stablecoins move deeper into payments, trading and short-term dollar markets.

Tether is also expanding USDT’s infrastructure footprint. Its plan to bring USDT back to Bitcoin through RGB would return the stablecoin to the network where it first launched in 2014 through Omni-Mastercoin, with Utexo leading the commercial rollout for Bitcoin-native settlement.

Tether’s Treasury-heavy reserve model has become part of the wider stablecoin policy debate. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller linked large stablecoin growth to potential demand for U.S. government debt, while Tether’s scale showed how digital-dollar balances can turn into major short-term Treasury exposure across global markets.