Tether has announced a $20 million investment in Mercado Bitcoin’s strategic growth financing round, giving the Brazilian platform new capital for its next stage of expansion.
In a Tuesday announcement, the company said the funding will support tokenization, payments, credit, capital markets, and regulated digital financial services in Latin America.
Mercado Bitcoin is one of Latin America’s largest on-chain financial services platforms. The company started in 2013 as a digital asset exchange and has since expanded into trading, tokenized investment products, credit, lending, stablecoin payments, banking infrastructure and cross-border services.
Tether said the investment supports its plan to back financial infrastructure in high-growth markets. The company also linked the deal to Brazil’s role in digital asset adoption, tokenization and blockchain-based financial services.
Mercado Bitcoin brings scale and licenses
Mercado Bitcoin serves 4.5 million users and has issued more than R$2 billion in tokenized assets. Tether also said the company holds more than 10 licenses across Brazil and Europe, including a Payment Institution license from the Banco Central do Brasil.
The platform also has broker-dealer capabilities, a securitization platform and asset management services. These licenses and services give Mercado Bitcoin a wider base than a standard crypto exchange. They also allow the company to offer regulated products to retail and institutional clients.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said Mercado Bitcoin has built a regulated on-chain financial platform that serves millions of users. He said Tether wants to support the company’s next phase as a “strategic partner and investor.”
Funding targets payments and tokenized products
Mercado Bitcoin plans to use the capital across several business lines. These include payments infrastructure, tokenized investment products, lending and credit, on-chain capital markets, strategic partnerships and international expansion.
The funding comes as more firms test blockchain systems for payments, trading, lending and investment products. Tether said users and institutions are looking for faster and more connected ways to move value.
In Brazil, the company said digital use, regulatory work and financial innovation are moving together.
“The discussion is no longer whether finance will move on-chain,” said Mercado Bitcoin Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Roberto Dagnoni.
He added that the company has spent more than a decade building regulated infrastructure for tokenization, stablecoins, payments and capital markets.
Stablecoins and tokenization remain in focus
The deal also fits into Tether’s wider investment strategy. The company said it wants to support platforms that combine regulation, market reach and technology for real-world financial products. It also said stablecoins, tokenization and blockchain-based services are moving into wider use.
As reported by The Coin Headlines in late June, USDT became the second-largest cryptocurrency briefly by reported market capitalization after Ethereum fell to a 2026 low. Stablecoins represented about 15 percent of the total crypto market cap, with a combined value near $310 billion at the time.
Moreover, demand for stablecoins has grown beyond trading. Companies such as Mastercard and MoneyGram have moved further into stablecoin services, while some firms are using stablecoins in bank workflows and tokenized yield products.
In a related market move, Binance Direct Stocks crossed $1 billion in U.S. equities acquired by users within 30 days of launch. The product lets eligible users trade stocks and ETFs inside the Binance app, with settlement handled through stablecoins.
That trend gives more context to Tether’s Mercado Bitcoin investment. Crypto firms are not only building exchanges for digital assets. They are also moving toward payments, tokenized assets, credit, capital markets and access to traditional financial products through blockchain rails.
Mercado Bitcoin has already worked on tokenized assets before this financing round. In 2025, Ripple said Mercado Bitcoin planned to tokenize more than $200 million in regulated financial assets on the XRP Ledger, including fixed income and equity income instruments.
The latest investment gives Mercado Bitcoin more capital to expand that work. However, Tether did not provide a full timeline for product launches or international rollout plans. The company also did not disclose the valuation of the financing round.
