- Tether said Thursday that it plans to make its USDT stable coin available at more than 24,000 ATMs in Brazil. The plan is to start the programme on November 3.
- Users will be able to instantly change Brazilian reals to US dollars and vice versa.
- USDT is the most traded cryptocurrency in the world, and its market capitalization is now over $68 billion.
Tether said Thursday that it plans to make its USDT stable coin, which has the largest market capitalization in the world, available at more than 24000 ATMs in Brazil.
“The difficulties and limitations imposed by inflation and a less-than-inclusive financial system have excluded many of Brazil’s citizens from being able to participate in the country’s growing economy,” Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s CTO, said in a statement. “Adding tether tokens to ATMs in Brazil makes it possible for more people to be part of the financial system.”
Users of ATMs in Brazil will soon be able to instantly change Brazilian reals to US dollars and vice versa, as well as send their US dollars anywhere in the world.
“This will bring major changes not only to the payments industry but to the entire Brazilian financial ecosystem,” said Ardoino.
To grow USDT’s presence in South America’s largest economy, Tether partnered with Brazilian payments company SmartPay. SmartPay helped integrate USDT with Brazilian payment system PiX and TecBan, Brazil’s largest ATM provider. The plan is to start the programme on November 3.
Stablecoins such as USDT, which are designed to be highly resistant to price fluctuations, have seen explosive growth in popularity in Latin American markets in recent years. People like them because they are easy to get and because they are often a better way to save money than national currencies, which are more volatile.
Stablecoins like USDT are usually tied to the value of the US dollar and backed by real-world assets that are audited by American financial institutions. Because of this, they have become popular as financial products that combine the independence of a crypto asset with the stability of traditional money.
CoinGecko says that USDT is the most traded cryptocurrency in the world, and its market capitalization is now over $68 billion. It is used a lot by people who want a stable way to store their money and by crypto traders who want to trade quickly without having to get their hands on cash.
Since well over a year ago, Brazil’s economy has had to deal with high inflation. Since June 2021, September was the first month in which inflation was less than 9%. Brazilian tax authority Receita Federal says that in 2021, the number of Brazilians who used stablecoins grew by more than three times what it was in 2016.
As Tether’s influence around the world has grown, the company has taken steps to make it seem more stable and open. Last week, Tether announced it had completely eliminated commercial paper from its reserves, and would replace those investments with US Treasury Bills. Most people thought that the move was meant to reassure American regulators who were worried about the company’s asset reserves.
