Richard Heathcote, who served as Tether Holdings SA's chief investment officer until earlier this year, plans to sell a portion of his 1.26 percent stake in the stablecoin issuer, working with investment bank PJT Partners to manage the process.
Negotiations with potential buyers are underway. No final transaction price or specific buyer has been publicly disclosed.
Tether announced in March that Heathcote would step down as CIO, transitioning into a non-executive advisory role. His deputy, Zachary Lyons, assumed the chief investment officer position.
During his tenure, Heathcote oversaw the reserves backing USDT and directed an investment strategy that included stakes in soccer clubs and humanoid-robotics companies.
Tether has historically disclosed little about its capitalization table or the equity stakes held by its executives. This sale, facilitated through a Wall Street investment bank, represents one of the first concrete data points on Tether's ownership structure below its founding members.
The reporting did not specify the dollar size of the stake being sold or identify prospective buyers.
Should a transaction price become public, the sale could provide a market-set valuation for Tether Holdings SA—a benchmark for a company whose financials have long been subject to speculation.
Tether did not comment on the planned sale. Attempts to reach Heathcote through company channels were unsuccessful.
USDT remains the largest stablecoin by circulating supply and a core liquidity layer across DeFi protocols, from lending markets to perpetual exchanges. The GENIUS Act, signed in 2025, established a federal framework for payment stablecoin issuers covering reserves and audits. A market-derived valuation for Tether, even partial, could influence how on-chain participants assess USDT's stability and collateral risk across those protocols.
