Tether opens up the Latin American market with pesos-pegged stablecoin

Highlights

• On 26 May, Tether announced that it would be launching a Mexican peso-backed stablecoin, MXNT.
• Initially launched on Ethereum, Polygon, and Tron, Tether’s decision to tap the Latin American markets is a clear indication that it wants to expand its business operations.
• With the launch of MXNT, Tether has now launched its fourth stablecoin product, following the US dollar-pegged USDT, Euro-pegged EURT, and Chinese Yuan-pegged CNHTT.

While the stablecoin market has been under the pump for a while now, the gloom hasn’t deterred the world’s leading stablecoin Tether from making its grand entry into Latin America. On 26 May, Tether announced that it would be launching a Mexican peso-backed stablecoin, MXNT. 

Initially launched on Ethereum, Polygon, and Tron, Tether’s decision to tap into the Latin American markets is a clear indication that it wants to expand its business operations. 

For some time now, Mexico has been putting its name in the upcoming crypto markets, with around 40% of the Mexican firms looking to adopt blockchain and cryptos as a mode of operations in the coming years.

Related Read: World’s leading stablecoin Tether de-pegs and gets back on course

In addition to this, the multibillion-dollar flow of remittances into Mexico and issues related to money transfers have made Mexico a unique place to explore the stablecoin market. 

MXNT and prospects

Many crypto experts believe that the stablecoin launch in Mexico is just the first step for Tether to expand its base to other countries in the region. In fact, with the launch of MXNT, Tether has now launched its fourth stablecoin product, following the US dollar-pegged USDT, Euro-pegged EURT, and Chinese Yuan-pegged CNHTT. 

With the MXNT, the Mexican citizens and firms can explore stablecoins and a host of opportunities in the space and could even smoother the asset transfer options. Tether and Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino said that the introduction of peso-backed stablecoin will give Mexicans a significant opportunity with store value. Besides, the MXNT will also reduce volatility for investors looking to convert their assets and investments from fiat to digital currencies, he added. 

Related Read: Crypto Catch: Is Tether’s collapse imminent now?

Not the first entrant

As an exchange, Bitfinex or Tether is not the first to dip its toes into the Latin American market. Previously, Coinbase, Bitso, etc., have explored the Mexican remittance phenomenon. Coinbase had even launched a cash-out service to convert local pesos to cryptos. It offered its services in more than 37,000 outlets across Mexico. 

In November 2021, local exchange Bitso in collaboration with Circle launched its wire transfer services to allow small businesses operating outside Mexico. With this, Mexicans could convert their dollars to stablecoins. This would not only allow seamless transfer back to Mexico, but also convert them to pesos.

Bitso conducted a similar partnership with Tribal. The Tribal partnership made the cross-border B2B payments system a seamless process as it could be used in converting the pesos to Stellar USDC – another stablecoin.

Conclusion 

On the whole, the expansion to the Latin American market by one of the top exchanges will open up a variety of investment opportunities for Mexican citizens. This could also tempt other exchanges to join the bandwagon, eventually leading to the further adoption of cryptocurrencies in the region. 

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