Tether Invests in Ualá

Tether has invested $20 million in Argentine neobank Ualá, acquiring a stake in the fast-growing fintech company that serves more than 11 million customers across Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia. The move marks another step in Tether’s strategy to strengthen its footprint in the Latin American financial market.

The investment was part of a $197 million funding round announced in March. The round was led by Allianz X and valued Ualá at $3.2 billion. While Tether was initially listed as one of the participating investors, the company only later disclosed that its contribution amounted to $20 million. Based on Ualá’s valuation, the investment represents roughly a 0.6% ownership stake, although the exact terms of the deal have not been made public.

Ualá provides a wide range of financial services, including digital accounts, payment cards, loans, and investment products. The platform currently serves more than 11 million users in Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia.

According to Bloomberg, Ualá CEO Pierpaolo Barbieri said that current regulations in Argentina and Mexico prevent the rapid introduction of Tether’s USDT stablecoin on the platform. As a result, Tether joined the funding round solely as a financial investor rather than a strategic partner.

The investment is not Tether’s first move in the region. In April, the company led a $14 million funding round for the digital wallet Belo. It also holds a 70% stake in Adecoagro, an agribusiness and energy company operating in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. Earlier this month, Tether invested another $20 million in the Brazilian cryptocurrency exchange Mercado Bitcoin.

Tether finances investments like these using excess capital generated from the reserves backing its USDT stablecoin. USDT currently has a circulating supply of approximately $184 billion, while the company reported a net profit of $1.04 billion in the first quarter of the year.

The Ualá investment reflects a broader trend across the crypto industry, where digital asset companies are increasingly expanding into traditional finance. Rather than focusing exclusively on their own products and services, major crypto firms are taking stakes in banks, fintech companies, and financial platforms, further blurring the lines between the digital asset ecosystem and the conventional financial sector.