Tether Invests $20 Million in Brazil’s Mercado Bitcoin

Stablecoin issuer Tether is investing $20 million in Brazil-based digital assets platform Mercado Bitcoin.

“The investment reflects Tether’s continued commitment to supporting open, efficient, and accessible financial infrastructure in high-growth markets and reinforces Brazil’s role as an advanced ecosystem for digital asset adoption, tokenization, and blockchain-powered financial services,” the companies said in a news release Tuesday (July 7).

According to the release, Mercado Bitcoin will use the funding to expand its payments infrastructure, tokenized investment offerings for retail and institutional investors, lending and credit capabilities, and on-chain capital markets, as well as “pursuing strategic growth and partnership opportunities, and continuing international expansion.”

Founded in 2013, Mercado Bitcoin began as a crypto exchange but has since evolved into a financial services platform offering things like credit and lending, tokenized investment products, stablecoin-powered payments, banking infrastructure and cross-border financial services.

The company has more than 4.5 million users, has issued more than $380 million in tokenized assets, and operates more than 10 licenses in Europe, and Brazil, including a payment Institution license from the Banco Central do Brasil.

“Tether’s mission is to build open, accessible, and efficient financial infrastructure for the world,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. “Mercado Bitcoin has built exactly that, a regulated, full-stack on-chain financial platform serving millions of users across one of the world’s most dynamic financial markets.”

The release noted that the investment is happening as financial services are increasingly moving toward blockchain-based infrastructure, especially in places like Brazil, with a convergence of digital engagement, regulatory development and financial innovation.

“The discussion is no longer whether finance will move on-chain. That transition is already underway,” said Roberto Dagnoni, Mercado Bitcoin’s chairman and CEO. “The focus now is on building the infrastructure that will support tokenization, stablecoins, payments, and capital markets at scale, reshaping how money moves, investments are accessed, and capital is deployed.”

In other blockchain news, PYMNTS wrote last week about OUSD, a new dollar-backed stablecoin that is supported by dozens of high-profile companies and is being positioned as a challenge to Tether and Circle, issuers of the largest and second-largest stablecoins.

“Rather than allowing reserve income and network effects to accrue primarily to a single issuer, the OUSD consortium proposes distributing value across participants while allowing multiple institutions to mint and redeem a common digital dollar asset,” PYMNTS wrote.

“Conceptually, it is an attractive proposition; and, economically, the consortium’s members are attempting to solve one of stablecoins’ largest structural tensions: why should distribution partners spend billions helping another company become the dominant issuer?”