Stablecoin issuer Tether and asset manager Fasanara Capital are setting up a private credit fund that will include trade finance instruments and make use of the USDT stablecoin.
Fasanara founder and chief executive Francesco Filia told GTR the Cayman Islands-incorporated fund, called StableFund, will deploy capital through products such as invoice finance and supply chain finance.
“Other structures, including inventory finance and pre-export lending, may also be considered, subject to the fund’s mandate and Fasanara’s underwriting criteria,” Filia said.
The fund has been seeded with a total of US$400mn of capital from both Tether and Fasanara, but the pair said they want to attract a further US$3bn from external institutional investors. Fasanara will act as investment manager while Tether is originator and advisor.
The announcement marks the entry of an emerging financial powerhouse into the realm of receivables-backed financing at a time of upheaval in the sector.
The collapse of auto parts supplier First Brands last year amid allegations of fraud, along with recent claims that iron ore trader Radiant World provided fake invoices to lenders, have stung banks, funds and private credit investors that poured money into invoice-backed lending.
Last week, Bloomberg reported that Apollo’s trade finance-focused Eliant fund was winding down its invoice and receivables financing activity, while Jefferies’ receivables finance funds have been battered by large exposures to both First Brands and Radiant World.
Tether and Fasanara said in a joint statement that StableFund “is designed to direct institutional capital toward small- and medium-sized businesses”.
Instead of direct lending to corporates, Fasanara provides credit lines to private credit lenders and platforms that originate working capital and factoring to SMEs and other firms, including those active in international trade in countries such as Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Singapore.
Filia told GTR “the aim is to connect capital from the stablecoin economy with the financing needs of businesses engaged in domestic and international trade”.
In some cases, the fund will aim to incorporate USDT into the funding or settlement stage of their investments.
As an example, Filia said the fund may extend credit in US dollars to a lending platform which would then use USDT to transfer funds between accounts or across borders, converting the stablecoin into fiat currency “where needed to finance businesses”.
Filia said this “allows platforms to use stablecoin infrastructure to improve the speed and efficiency of treasury operations and settlement, while the underlying loans and receivables can remain denominated and repaid in conventional currencies. Neither the loan itself nor the fund interest needs to be tokenised.”
“The opportunity is to combine established trade finance products and Fasanara’s underwriting expertise with more efficient infrastructure for moving capital,” he added.
Many banks and fintechs have in recent years explored the use of stablecoins in trade finance, although to date most see benefits stemming from faster settlement of cross-border payments rather than their use within the underlying trade instruments.
Tether, which bills itself as one of the world’s most profitable companies, has embarked on several efforts to earn returns on its cash pile through investments in gold, bitcoin and payments infrastructure firms, and even a stake in Italian football club Juventus.
Ardoino told Bloomberg last year the company had built up a US$1.5bn loan book in commodity trade finance. Tether said in November 2024 that it had financed an oil trade transaction in the Middle East between parties it declined to disclose.
