Tether invests $20 million in Brazilian crypto platform Mercado Bitcoin

Tether invests $20 million in Mercado Bitcoin, one of Brazil’s largest regulated crypto and financial platforms. The investment is part of a strategic funding round and aims to accelerate the platform’s growth in Latin America and beyond.

Mercado Bitcoin: a major player in Latin America

Mercado Bitcoin now has 4.5 million users and has issued more than R$2 billion in tokenised assets. The platform holds more than ten licences in Brazil and Europe, making it one of the best-regulated crypto institutions in the region. This clearly positions it as a serious player in the emerging world of on-chain financial services.

As Tether reports, the partnership focuses on building out payment infrastructure, tokenised investment products, loans and international expansion. It is a logical step for Tether, which previously brought USDT back to Bitcoin via the RGB protocol as part of its broader blockchain strategy.

Tether focuses on on-chain capital markets

With this investment, Tether aims to actively support the development of on-chain capital markets in Latin America. The region is considered one of the fastest-growing markets for crypto adoption worldwide, driven in part by high inflation in countries such as Brazil and Argentina and strong demand for alternatives to traditional banking.

Mercado Bitcoin will use the new funds to further expand its offering, from payment services to new financial products on the blockchain. Tether sees the collaboration as a strategic opportunity to strengthen its position in emerging markets and contribute to the development of a robust financial infrastructure based on blockchain technology. The Bitcoin price stands at $63K at the time of writing, an increase of 1.6% over the past 24 hours.