I just found out something quite interesting about how the main players in crypto are trying to influence U.S. politics. It turns out that Fellowship, the super PAC linked to Tether, has just made its first significant move, and the story is more complicated than it seems at first glance.

What happened is that this super PAC spent $300,000 on advertising to support Republican candidate Clay Fuller in Georgia, but here’s the juicy part: that money went through Nxum Group, a company founded by Bo Hines, who is the CEO of Tether in the United States. In other words, the super PAC’s money ended up in a company owned by the family of Tether’s own executive. Hines founded the company along with his father Todd and another external partner.

The most striking thing is that Fellowship never publicly disclosed this expenditure nor mentioned that they were backing Fuller. It just happened. And when you look at the numbers, things get even stranger: recently, they appointed Jesse Spiro, Tether’s Vice President of Regulatory Affairs in the U.S., as chairman of the committee. When they announced the creation of this super PAC last year, they pledged $100 million in financial support. But here’s the problem: FEC records currently show a zero balance in the account. So, $100 million promised, but nothing so far.

Tether International quickly came out to say it has no relation to Fellowship, while Tether U.S. simply hasn’t said anything. Technically, according to campaign finance experts, there’s nothing illegal about a super PAC paying related companies of its founders, as long as the services are real and the prices are competitive. But it definitely smells fishy.

What catches my attention is how this illustrates the broader strategy of crypto in politics. This super PAC remains small compared to Fairshake, which has already invested millions in multiple primary campaigns. And curiously, the candidates supported by Fellowship are almost exclusively conservative Republicans from deeply conservative states. It seems Tether is playing a long-term political game, although for now with fairly limited resources.