Tether invests $20 million in Argentine neobank Ualá as it expands Latin America push

Finance Tether invests $20 million in Argentine neobank Ualá as it expands Latin America push Ualá’s CEO clarified Tether is acting solely as a financial investor, citing current regional regulations preventing any immediate USDT integration. By Francisco Rodrigues | Edited by Oliver Knight Jul 16, 2026, 10:12 a.m. 1 min read Make preferred on Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Make preferred on Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino (Nikhilesh De/CoinDesk) Summary Show Tether invested $20 million in Ualá, an Argentine neobank with more than 11 million customers across Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia. Ualá’s CEO clarified Tether is acting solely as a financial investor, citing current regional regulations preventing any immediate USDT integration. This deal follows Tether's recent Latin American expansion, including investments in Belo, Adecoagro, and Mercado Bitcoin. Leading stablecoin issuer Tether invested $20 million in Argentine neobank Ualá, taking an equity stake in a financial platform with more than 11 million customers across Argentina, Mexico and Colombia. The investment was part of Ualá’s $197 million funding round announced in March, led by Allianz X at a $3.2 billion post-money valuation. Tether was initially mentioned in Ualá’s announcement, and only later on unveiled the $20 million investment figure. Given the headline valuation, the investment should represent a rough 0.6% stake in the neobank’s post-money equity though the terms may differ. Ualá offers accounts, cards, lending and investments to more than 11 million customers across Argentina, Mexico and Colombia. The company’s CEO Pierpaolo Barbieri, according to Bloomberg , has said regulations in Argentina and Mexico prevent a near-term USDT integration and that Tether joined the round solely as a financial investor. Tether has made several bets in Argentina and the South American region. It led a $14 million round for payments wallet Belo in April and controls 70% of agricultural and energy producer Adecoagro, which operates across Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. Earlier this month it invested $20 million in Brazilian crypto exchange Mercado Bitcoin. Tether funds its investments with excess capital generated by income earned from the reserves that back the USDT stablecoin, which now has $184 billion in circulation. It posted a $1.04 billion profit in the first quarter. Tether Latest Crypto News 1 U.S. adds four Iran central bank crypto wallets to sanctions, Tether freezes $131 million of contents 5 minutes ago 2 Live updates: ZachXBT calls hardware wallets complete garbage; BTC steady after Korea rate hike 3 hours ago 3 U.S. Senate unanimously opposes clemency for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried 4 hours ago 4 A bitcoin wallet dormant since the 2017 peak just moved $383 million 5 hours ago 5 Ether outruns bitcoin as ETF money returns, almost all of from BlackRock's fund 5 hours ago 6 Two groups of bitcoin investors sell on the rise as U.S. inflation lifts prices to nearly $65,000 6 hours ago 7 Coinbase's Jesse Pollak steps back from Base app leadership after admitting his crypto social strategy failed 13 hours ago 8 DTCC moves tokenized securities into live trading, marking a milestone for Wall Street's blockchain push 17 hours ago 9 Cantor and Securitize collaborate on blockchain-based IPOs 17 hours ago 10 Ostium suffers $18 million exploit as oracle attack wave continues to hit DeFi 18 hours ago Latest Research Gate Leads Spot Market Share Gains as CEX Volumes Rise for First Time in Five Months Gate Leads Spot Market Share Gains as CEX Volumes Rise for First Time in Five Months CEX trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June, with spot climbing 15.3% to $1.11T and RWA perpetual volumes surging to a record $311B. By CoinDesk Research Jul 13, 2026 CEX trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June, with spot climbing 15.3% to $1.11T and RWA perpetual volumes surging to a record $311B. Why it matters : CEX trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June, with spot climbing 15.3% to $1.11T and RWA perpetual volumes surging to a record $311B. View Full Report More From Finance U.S. adds four Iran central bank crypto wallets to sanctions, Tether freezes $131 million of contents Coinbase's Jesse Pollak steps back from Base app leadership after admitting his crypto social strategy failed DTCC moves tokenized securities into live trading, marking a milestone for Wall Street's blockchain push