Christian Angermayer helped Tether invest in companies in which he holds shares and received hefty commissions from the transactions.

By Ben Foldy and Caitlin Ostroff, The Wall Street Journal

Translated by Luffy, Foresighht News

The issuer of the world's most popular stablecoin USDT, Tether, is making large-scale acquisitions. It has acquired a majority stake in the artificial intelligence company Northern Data and the brain-machine interface company Blackrock Neurotech. It is worth noting that Tether's transactions with these two companies were both facilitated by the same German investor, and the results of the transactions recommended by this investor were mixed.

The circulating market value of the stablecoin USDT currently exceeds $115 billion. Thanks to substantial interest rates, Tether can earn approximately $4 billion in annual income from the U.S. Treasury bonds supporting USDT.

Tether has hired technology investor and entrepreneur Christian Angermayer to help invest this substantial amount of funds. This versatile financier has also amassed wealth through some unconventional investments, including psychedelic drugs, dinosaur fossils, and alternative substances used by athletes during the Olympics.

So far, Angermayer has helped Tether invest approximately $1.5 billion in two companies in which he holds shares, and he has also earned substantial commissions from the transactions. The companies they invested in have been facing perennial losses.

In the past year, Tether acquired a majority stake in Northern Data. Northern Data is a German data center operator operating at a loss, aspiring to become an artificial intelligence company. The other company acquired by Tether, Blackrock Neurotech, is a struggling brain-machine implant company based in Utah, which competes with Elon Musk's Neuralink.

Tether did not respond to our request for comments. A spokesperson for Northern Data stated that the company's revenue growth proves the success of its strategic investments in the field of artificial intelligence.

Tether is not the first cryptocurrency company to make large-scale investments. Previously, the peak cryptocurrency exchange FTX spent $1 billion to acquire a bitcoin mining company on the steppes of Kazakhstan and $500 million to acquire the artificial intelligence company Anthropic.

Angermayer's Track Record is Controversial

Angermayer's family office is located in Malta and operates Apeiron Investment Group, which specializes in talent recruitment for investors and companies. Apeiron has facilitated some large investment transactions for cash-rich buyers, but these investments ultimately performed poorly.

In 2017, Angermayer's family office helped HNA Group of China become the largest shareholder of the struggling German bank Deutsche Bank. After the transaction was completed, the bank's stock price further declined. Several years later, HNA Group sold part of its shares due to a cash shortage. Ultimately, heavily indebted and subject to scrutiny by the Chinese government, HNA Group filed for bankruptcy.

Angermayer then began collaborating with the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group, which raised the largest venture capital fund globally to date. He introduced Wirecard, a German payment processor facing accounting fraud allegations at the time, to SoftBank.

SoftBank stabilized the situation by issuing $1 billion in convertible bonds to help Wirecard. Both SoftBank and Wirecard paid Angermayer's family office millions of dollars in intermediary fees.

Months after the transaction with SoftBank, Wirecard collapsed due to an accounting scandal. SoftBank sold the bonds to investors, resulting in heavy losses for the investors.

A source familiar with the matter stated that Apeiron received compensation as the intermediary for this transaction but did not participate in the negotiations and the transaction itself. The source also stated that Angermayer facilitated several other less controversial transactions.

Recently, Angermayer and Apeiron have begun to focus on what he calls the "vital agenda for the next human society," establishing investment portfolios in areas such as cryptocurrency, longevity, and psychedelic drugs. With the support of technology investor Peter Thiel, Angermayer co-founded Enhanced Games with others, advocating for sports events to use performance-enhancing drugs.

Angermayer and Northern Data

Angermayer often wears flamboyant shirts adorned with mushroom patterns. He has a tattoo of the chemical symbol for psilocybin (a neurotoxin with hallucinogenic effects) on his forearm. He has hosted lavish birthday parties at a 17th-century Austrian palace and a cryptocurrency conference in the Bahamas. On Instagram, Angermayer showcases his collection of dinosaur fossils and ancient sculptures.

Angermayer's personal life and work sometimes intertwine. In 2022, Apeiron marketed a new fund to investors called "Apeiron Jurassic Fund One," aiming to raise $30 million to invest in dinosaur fossils. The draft promotional materials stated that the fund would utilize "a unique global network of bounty hunters," starting with Angermayer's fossil collection, which includes a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex and a sauropod. The fund was ultimately abandoned.

Angermayer's other investments include a significant stake in Northern Data, a publicly listed bitcoin mining company in Germany that recently shifted to artificial intelligence cloud hosting services. Northern Data acquired two cryptocurrency mining companies in which Angermayer holds shares, and Angermayer received a partial stake in the new company. One of these companies was co-founded by a former employee of his family office.

Subsequently, Angermayer began raising funds for Northern Data and received service fees. Apeiron also charged Northern Data fees for introducing investors, including sponsorship and promotion at a cryptocurrency carnival in the Bahamas, where former One Direction star Liam Payne performed shirtless.

According to Northern Data's financial statements, the company paid Apeiron €840,000 (approximately $940,000) in 2022 for fundraising activities. Northern Data claimed a combined loss of €420 million from the acquisition of two cryptocurrency mining companies. Current and former employees indicated that, coupled with the general decline in cryptocurrency assets in 2022, Northern Data's financial situation is precarious at the beginning of 2023.

However, a Northern Data spokesperson stated that the company has been operating normally, and the financial audit results show that the company's capital is currently sufficient.

Angermayer Finds Deep-Pocketed Tether

In the spring of 2023, Tether made its first investment in Northern Data, spending €32.3 million to acquire shares in the company. According to sources, Tether hoped to keep its involvement in the deal confidential. Angermayer received a fee equivalent to 5% of the transaction value, marking his first fee for facilitating these two companies' transactions.

Several months later, Tether acquired an additional €48 million in Northern Data shares. Similarly, Northern Data did not publicly acknowledge Tether as its investor. A spokesperson for Northern Data stated that both companies met the disclosure requirements for the transactions.

Angermayer received a 5% fee from the second transaction. According to invoices reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, he received a total of €4 million in fees from these two transactions.

Subsequently, Tether began openly assisting Northern Data in entering the field of artificial intelligence. Tether established an Irish company called DaMoon and lent €400 million to Northern Data to purchase advanced Nvidia H100 processors.

Northern Data then took over DaMoon. In return, Tether received newly issued Northern Data shares. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino described the investment in Northern Data as a "perfect deal" in a podcast. He praised the company's management, structure, and team.

Afterward, Tether provided Northern Data with a credit line of €575 million, which has been fully utilized. These transactions made Tether the controlling shareholder of Northern Data. Last month, Northern Data announced plans to raise an additional €214 million (with €110 million coming from Tether) to purchase more processors.

A Northern Data spokesperson declined to answer whether Angermayer or Apeiron received fees from the subsequent transactions. They stated that any fees paid by the company have been disclosed in accordance with legal and accounting standards.

Based in the British Virgin Islands, Tether has achieved tremendous success. Investors like it because its cryptocurrency is stable, with a value always pegged to $1. It has good liquidity and is very suitable for commercial transactions. According to government indictments, USDT has also been widely used for drug trafficking, terrorist organizations, and sanctioned countries. Government and bank officials have stated that regulatory agencies have strengthened scrutiny, and some banks refuse to do business with Tether.

Tether stated that it collaborates with global law enforcement agencies and has established and maintains world-class compliance processes to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, and other risks.

Angermayer also helped Tether invest in another company, Blackrock Neurotech. He is the co-chairman and largest shareholder of Blackrock Neurotech, a brain-machine interface manufacturer. Brain-machine 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 financing round for Blackrock Neurotech. Former employees indicated that, while Angermayer served as chairman, Blackrock Neurotech sought to capitalize on the industry buzz generated by Musk's Neuralink and actively pushed for the company to go public.

However, Blackrock Neurotech's business development encountered difficulties. Former employees stated that after receiving investment, Blackrock Neurotech rapidly expanded, doubling its staff and developing new business lines. However, the company then carried out a series of layoffs in 2022 and 2023.

Last summer, Angermayer and Apeiron led a $37 million investment round in Blackrock Neurotech. Former employees stated that the company burned through more cash and then carried out further layoffs.

Blackrock Neurotech has not responded to requests for comment.

In April of this year, Tether acquired a majority stake in Blackrock Neurotech for $200 million, valuing the company at $350 million. Tether stated that its business scope has expanded from simply providing a digital dollar alternative to brain chips, which will "empower humanity in the future evolution."

Northern Data's stock is traded on the German securities market and is currently considering listing in the United States. According to a slide seen by The Wall Street Journal, some bankers pushing for Northern Data's U.S. listing stated that the company's value could reach $20 billion in a few years. Northern Data declined to comment on the potential U.S. listing.

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