Behind Tether's effortless deployment of $1.5 billion, intermediaries are raking in massive profits
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Behind Tether's effortless deployment of $1.5 billion, intermediaries are raking in massive profits
Christian Angermayer helped Tether invest in companies in which he held stakes and collected substantial commissions from the deals.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy Ben Foldy, Caitlin Ostroff, The Wall Street Journal
Translation: Luffy, Foresight News
Tether, the issuer behind the world’s most widely used cryptocurrency USDT, is making bold acquisitions. It has taken majority stakes in artificial intelligence firm Northern Data and brain-computer chip company Blackrock Neurotech. Notably, both deals were brokered by the same German investor, whose past referrals have yielded mixed results.
With a current market capitalization exceeding $115 billion, stablecoin USDT generates substantial interest income—Tether earns approximately $4 billion annually from U.S. Treasury securities backing the token.
Tether hired tech investor and entrepreneur Christian Angermayer to help deploy this vast sum of capital. The versatile financier has also built wealth through unconventional investments, including psychedelics, dinosaur fossils, and performance-enhancing alternatives for Olympic athletes.
To date, Angermayer has helped Tether invest around $1.5 billion into two companies in which he holds stakes, earning significant commissions from these transactions. However, the companies involved have faced persistent losses.
Over the past year, Tether acquired a majority stake in Northern Data, a struggling German data center operator aiming to reposition itself as an AI company. The other acquisition, Blackrock Neurotech, is a troubled Utah-based brain-computer implant firm and competitor to Elon Musk's Neuralink.
Tether did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Northern Data said revenue growth validates its strategic push into artificial intelligence.
Tether is not the first crypto firm to make large-scale investments. At its peak, cryptocurrency exchange FTX spent $1 billion acquiring a bitcoin mining operation on the Kazakh steppes and $500 million investing in AI company Anthropic.
In October last year, amid a broad cryptocurrency rally, a physical crypto store in Hong Kong displayed exchange rates for USDT.
Angermayer’s Track Record Is Controversial
Angermayer’s family office, Apeiron Investment Group, based in Malta, specializes in connecting investors with corporate opportunities. Apeiron has facilitated major investment deals for cash-rich buyers, though many of these investments later underperformed.
In 2017, Angermayer’s family office helped China’s HNA Group become the largest shareholder in Germany’s embattled Deutsche Bank. After the deal closed, the bank’s stock declined further. Years later, cash-strapped HNA sold part of its stake. Ultimately, heavily indebted and under government scrutiny, HNA filed for bankruptcy.
HNA Group, headquartered in Haikou, China, filed for bankruptcy in 2021.
Angermayer later partnered with Japan’s SoftBank Group, which raised the largest venture fund ever assembled. He introduced SoftBank to German payment processor Wirecard, then facing accounting fraud allegations.
SoftBank stabilized Wirecard with a $1 billion convertible bond investment. Both SoftBank and Wirecard paid millions in fees to Angermayer’s family office.
Months after SoftBank’s investment, Wirecard entered a long-term partnership with cybersecurity firm Cyan AG, in which Angermayer and a business partner held a 27% stake. That partner had previously represented HNA on Deutsche Bank’s board. Angermayer facilitated introductions between executives at Cyan and Wirecard.
A year after the SoftBank deal, Wirecard collapsed due to an accounting scandal. SoftBank offloaded its bonds to investors who suffered heavy losses.
A person familiar with the matter said Apeiron was compensated as a referral agent but did not participate in negotiations or execution. The individual added that Angermayer has also facilitated several less controversial deals.
More recently, Angermayer and Apeiron have focused on what he calls “the next big agenda for humanity,” building portfolios in cryptocurrency, longevity, and psychedelics. With support from tech investor Peter Thiel, Angermayer co-founded Enhanced Games, promoting athletic competitions using performance-enhancing substances.
Angermayer and Northern Data
Angermayer often wears flamboyant shirts adorned with mushroom motifs. His forearm bears a tattoo of psilocybin, a hallucinogenic neurotoxin. He has hosted lavish birthday parties at a 17th-century Austrian palace and at a crypto conference in the Bahamas. On Instagram, Angermayer showcases his collection of dinosaur skeletons and ancient sculptures.
His personal life and professional work frequently intersect. In 2022, Apeiron marketed a new fund called “Apeiron Jurassic Fund One” to investors, aiming to raise $30 million for dinosaur fossil investments. Draft marketing materials claimed the fund would leverage a “unique global network of bounty hunters,” starting with Angermayer’s own fossil collection, including a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex and a Diplodocus. The fund was ultimately abandoned.
Among Angermayer’s other investments is a substantial stake in Northern Data, a German-listed bitcoin miner that recently pivoted to AI cloud hosting services. Northern Data acquired two cryptocurrency mining firms in which Angermayer held interests, granting him shares in the newly merged entity. One of those firms was co-founded by a former employee of his family office.
Afterward, Angermayer began raising capital for Northern Data and charged service fees. Apeiron also billed Northern Data for investor introductions, including sponsorship and promotion at a crypto event in the Bahamas where former One Direction star Liam Payne performed shirtless.
A corridor inside a Northern Data computing center located in a decommissioned Norwegian mine.
According to Northern Data’s financial statements, the company paid Apeiron €840,000 (about $940,000) in 2022 for fundraising activities. Northern Data reported a combined loss of €420 million from acquiring the two mining firms. Current and former employees say that, compounded by the broader crypto downturn in 2022, Northern Data’s finances were precarious by early 2023.
A Northern Data spokesperson said the company continues normal operations and audits show sufficient capitalization.
Angermayer Finds a Deep-Pocketed Partner in Tether
Tether first invested in Northern Data in spring 2023, spending €32.3 million to acquire shares. According to people familiar with the matter, Tether wanted to keep its involvement confidential. Angermayer received compensation equal to 5% of the transaction value—the first fee he earned for introducing the two parties.
Several months later, Tether purchased another €48 million in Northern Data shares. Again, Northern Data did not publicly disclose Tether as an investor. A spokesperson said both companies met disclosure requirements.
Angermayer earned another 5% fee from the second transaction. Based on invoices reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, he received a total of €4 million in compensation from the two deals.
Since then, Tether has openly backed Northern Data’s move into artificial intelligence. Tether established an Irish company named DaMoon and lent Northern Data €400 million to purchase advanced Nvidia H100 processors.
Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, called the investment in Northern Data a "perfect deal."
Northern Data subsequently took over DaMoon. In return, Tether received newly issued Northern Data shares. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino described the investment on a podcast as a “perfect deal,” praising the company’s management, structure, and team.
Later, Tether extended a €575 million credit line to Northern Data, now fully drawn. These transactions made Tether the controlling shareholder of Northern Data. Last month, Northern Data announced plans to raise another €214 million (€110 million from Tether) to buy more processors.
A Northern Data spokesperson declined to confirm whether Angermayer or Apeiron received fees from subsequent transactions. He stated all payments made by the company were disclosed in compliance with legal and accounting standards.
BVI-based Tether has achieved massive success. Investors favor its cryptocurrency because it remains consistently pegged to $1. It is highly liquid and ideal for commercial transactions. According to government indictments, USDT has also been widely used in drug trafficking, terrorism financing, and by sanctioned nations. Government and banking officials say regulators have intensified scrutiny, and some banks refuse to do business with Tether.
Investors like Tether’s cryptocurrency because of its price stability.
Tether says it collaborates with global law enforcement and has built and maintains world-class compliance processes to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and other risks.
Angermayer also helped Tether invest in another venture: Blackrock Neurotech. He serves as co-chairman of the board and is the largest shareholder in the brain-computer interface manufacturer. Brain-computer interfaces are small electronic devices implanted in the brains of paralyzed patients. The Salt Lake City–based company has been developing this technology since 2008.
In 2021, Apeiron led a $10 million funding round for Blackrock Neurotech. Former employees said that during Angermayer’s tenure as chairman, the company sought to capitalize on the industry buzz generated by Musk’s Neuralink and aggressively pursued an IPO.
But Blackrock Neurotech struggled operationally. Former employees said the company rapidly expanded after securing investment, more than doubling staff and launching new business lines. Then, in 2022 and 2023, it conducted multiple rounds of layoffs.
Last summer, Angermayer and Apeiron led a $37 million investment round for Blackrock Neurotech. Former employees said the company burned through additional cash before cutting jobs again.
Blackrock Neurotech has not responded to requests for comment.
In April, Tether acquired a majority stake in Blackrock Neurotech for $200 million, valuing the company at $350 million. Tether said its mission has expanded beyond offering digital dollar equivalents to brain chips, aiming to “empower humanity in its future evolution.”
Entrance to a data center in western Norway housing a Northern Data computing facility.
Northern Data’s stock trades on the German market and is considering a U.S. listing. According to a presentation seen by The Wall Street Journal, bankers pushing for a U.S. IPO believe the company could be worth $20 billion in several years. Northern Data declined to comment on potential U.S. listing plans.
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