Tether announced earlier today, July 7, that it will put $20 million into a growth financing round for Mercado Bitcoin, a Brazilian firm. 

The company began as an exchange in 2013, and then grew into a regulated on-chain finance platform serving 4.5 million users across Latin America.

Why is Tether investing in a Brazilian firm?

Tether recently invested $20 million into a funding round for Mercado Bitcoin. According to Tether’s announcement, the money will help Mercado Bitcoin expand its operations further into payments, credit, tokenized investments, and on-chain capital markets.

Mercado Bitcoin holds more than 10 licenses across Brazil and Europe, including a Payment Institution license from Brazil’s central bank, the Banco Central do Brasil. It runs broker-dealer operations, a securitization arm, and an asset management business. The firm has reportedly issued over 2 billion reais in tokenized assets.

Tether has been investing in firms that are not only licensed but also have a wide reach, like Mercado Bitcoin. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in the announcement that the company’s depth of licensing and tokenization infrastructure was “unmatched in Latin America.”

Tether’s pattern of distribution deals

So far in 2026, Tether has repeatedly backed companies that can put USDT in front of users who are not crypto natives. 

In April, the company led an $8 million round for Abu Dhabi tokenization firm KAIO. The firm packages funds from managers like BlackRock and Hamilton Lane onto blockchain rails and had raised $19 million in total. 

Cryptopolitan reported in May that Tether invested an undisclosed sum in the cross-border payments app LemFi to include USDT as a settlement layer for transfers into Africa and Asia.

Tether reported about $1.04 billion in net profit for the first quarter of 2026 and excess reserves of $8.23 billion as of March 31, according to its attestation covered by Cryptopolitan. Its direct and indirect exposure to U.S. Treasury bills reached roughly $141 billion, ranking it the 17th largest holder of US government debt worldwide. The company’s stablecoin liquidity is currently at roughly $185 billion

Neither company gave a timeline nor a valuation for Mercado Bitcoin.

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