Tether Invests in Parfin to Deepen USDT's Latin American Foothold

Key Takeaways:

• Tether invests in Parfin to bolster USDT adoption in Latin America.
• Investment aims to establish USDT as an institutional settlement rail for cross-border payments and real-world asset tokenization.
• Latin America is a burgeoning crypto hub, driven by the need for inflation hedges and improved financial access.

Tether has announced an investment in Parfin, a digital asset platform based in London and Rio de Janeiro. This strategic move is designed to expand the reach of USDT within the Latin American institutional market and promote broader on-chain settlement across the region.

According to Tether, this investment underscores its commitment to positioning USDT as a robust institutional settlement solution for high-value activities, including cross-border payments, real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, and credit markets associated with trade finance, commercial invoices, and card receivables.

Founded in 2019, Parfin provides infrastructure for institutions to custody, tokenize, and transact with digital assets. The company received official registration in Argentina as a virtual asset service provider in October and has been operating in Brazil since 2020.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated that the investment reflects the company's “belief in Latin America as one of the global powerhouses for blockchain innovations.”

Tether's USDT is currently the largest stablecoin in circulation, boasting a market capitalization of approximately $183.73 billion, according to data from DefiLlama. The total market capitalization of all stablecoins is currently around $303.2 billion.

This investment follows shortly after Tether’s investment in Ledn, a Bitcoin-backed lending platform, the size of which was not disclosed.

The Rise of Crypto Adoption in Latin America

A report released in October by Chainalysis indicates that Latin America has become a significant hub for cryptocurrency activity. The region processed nearly $1.5 trillion in crypto transactions between July 2022 and June 2025.

Brazil leads the way with $318.8 billion in crypto inflows, accounting for nearly one-third of all crypto activity in Latin America. Argentina follows with $93.9 billion.

A primary factor driving cryptocurrency adoption in Latin America is the need for protection against rampant inflation. Argentina, for example, has struggled with high inflation rates for years, experiencing a significant peso sell-off in September that forced the central bank to expend over $1 billion in reserves.

Stablecoins have emerged as a viable solution to this problem. A March report from Mexico-based crypto exchange Bitso revealed that stablecoins have become a crucial “store of value” for many Latin American citizens. In 2024, USDT and Circle’s USDC collectively comprised 39% of all crypto purchases on the platform.

Latin Americans are increasingly utilizing cryptocurrencies to bridge gaps in the region’s traditional banking infrastructure, employing stablecoins for daily payments, savings, and more cost-effective remittances that circumvent the high fees associated with the SWIFT network.

As the CEO of crypto exchange Bybit’s Latin American division told Cointelegraph in October, “Crypto is actually changing the lives of people” in the region.