Tether, Fasanara Launch $400 Million Fund to Push USDT Into Private Credit

Tether and Fasanara Capital have launched an evergreen private credit fund, StableFund, anchored with $400 million in combined capital from the two firms and targeting up to $3 billion in third-party institutional capital, the companies announced Wednesday.

The fund pairs Fasanara's existing credit infrastructure with Tether's USD₮ settlement network. Fasanara, a roughly $6 billion London-based asset manager that runs one of Europe's largest fintech lending platforms, will act as investment manager, deploying capital through its network of more than 140 fintech lenders across 60-plus countries into SME lending, trade receivables, consumer credit and other asset-backed strategies. Tether takes the role of co-sponsor and originator, sourcing USD₮-linked financing opportunities and supplying settlement, on/off-ramp and treasury infrastructure.

"USD₮ was built to be money that works everywhere, across borders, around the clock, without friction," Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in the companies' announcement. "We are turning Tether's origination network into a direct channel for capital to flow to the businesses and communities that need it most."

Fasanara CEO Francesco Filia said the partnership lets the firm extend its lending reach using "the largest stablecoin network in the world," adding that USD₮ rails "extend the reach of credit beyond anything conventional funding structures can achieve."

The fund will initially target SME and consumer lending through fintech platforms, positioning itself against an estimated $5.7 trillion global SME financing gap, according to the companies.

The launch extends a pattern of Tether directing its stablecoin profits into asset classes well outside payments and trading. The company has spent recent months building out gold and Bitcoin reserves, backing farmland purchases, and taking stakes in AI infrastructure, all framed by Ardoino as hedges against currency and systemic risk. StableFund applies the same logic to credit: instead of holding assets on its own balance sheet, Tether is positioning USD₮ as working capital inside an already-running institutional lending network, giving Fasanara's counterparties a faster, cross-border settlement layer while giving Tether a yield-generating outlet for its reserves beyond U.S. Treasuries.

Whether institutional allocators treat USD₮-denominated credit exposure the same way they treat dollar-denominated exposure will determine how much of that $3 billion third-party target the fund actually reaches. Neither company has disclosed a timeline for the first close.