The company said its undisclosed investment in fintech firm Peso will expand its local ramps in four key Latin American markets—Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina—and accelerate the launch of point-of-sale systems that enable USDT for everyday retail transactions.
Key Takeaways
- Tether led a pre-seed investment round in Bolivian fintech Peso to boost stablecoin adoption across Latin America.
- Peso builds USDT infrastructure for daily retail payments, integrating with apps like Yango and point-of-sale terminals.
- Funding accelerates Peso’s expansion across four Latin American nations, turning USDT into a daily payment channel.
Tether Leads Pre-Seed Round in Bolivian Fintech Peso
The company behind the largest stablecoin by market cap, USDT, is investing in Bolivia’s future as a crypto hub in Latin America.
On Wednesday, Tether revealed that it had led the pre-seed round in Peso, a Bolivian fintech company that provides cryptocurrency-based savings, payments, and investment services across Latin American markets.
Beyond traditional app-based crypto management, Peso focuses on providing the functionality for Bolivian users to make everyday payments using crypto, including retail transactions for e-commerce, ride-hailing, and food-delivery use cases.
For example, Peso’s infrastructure manages USDT payments on Yango, a local platform that allows users to order and pay for food directly without needing fiat exchanges. It also offers a network of point-of-sale (POS) terminals that allow the connection of USDT payments and bank accounts, enabling USDT payments and crypto-to-fiat conversions.
Tether’s investment highlights the company’s role in supporting partners that facilitate the use of stablecoins and push adoption in markets like Bolivia, where USDT has been adopted as a dollar proxy.
The Bolivian government is evaluating integrating USDT payments into its financial system after reversing a crypto ban policy lifted in 2024, after four years of excluding the banking system from supporting crypto transactions.
Growing USDT in Latin America
Tether’s investment in Peso will accelerate its current roadmap, which includes expanding its USDT-linked POS terminals and the expansion of local on- and off-ramps in four key Latin American markets: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina, supporting USDT as a settlement layer.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino highlighted the move’s relevance, stressing that Peso was “building the kind of everyday-spend infrastructure that turns USDT from a savings tool into a payments channel people rely on daily.”
“By supporting Peso’s growth across the region, we aim to create a new standard for stablecoin-powered solutions,” he concluded.
Alejandro Terán, CEO and co-founder of Peso, explained that the company’s objective was to facilitate USDT adoption by providing the infrastructure needed to pay with crypto seamlessly.
“That a company like Tether chose a Bolivian startup for this investment is a recognition of the talent and execution capacity that exists here, and we are proud to have them as collaborators at this stage,” Terán assessed.
Tether’s investment in Peso follows similar moves with Orionx, a Chilean payments company, and Ualá, an Argentine neobank, to cement its position as the leading stablecoin in Latin American markets.