PANews reported on November 24 that Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary nominated by US President-elect Donald Trump, is exploring strengthening financial ties with the company that operates the world's largest stablecoin Tether, and plans to launch a $2 billion project to provide US dollar loans to customers with Bitcoin as collateral. The report quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that Lutnick's financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald is discussing obtaining Tether's support to help finance the project, which could amount to tens of billions of dollars. Tether reportedly uses Cantor's holdings of billions of dollars worth of U.S. Treasuries to support the value of its stablecoin, and this relationship helps Lutnick's company earn tens of millions of dollars each year.