Tether has invested $20 million in a strategic growth financing round for Mercado Bitcoin, Brazil’s largest crypto exchange, the stablecoin issuer announced Tuesday. The deal backs Mercado Bitcoin’s push into tokenization, payments, credit and capital markets across Latin America.

Mercado Bitcoin, founded in 2013, has grown from a digital asset exchange into a full-stack regulated platform, according to Tether’s release. It now serves 4.5 million users, has issued more than R$2 billion ($370 million) in tokenized assets, and holds more than 10 licenses across Brazil and Europe, including a Payment Institution license from Banco Central do Brasil, plus broker-dealer, securitization and asset management capabilities.

“Mercado Bitcoin has built exactly that, a regulated, full-stack on-chain financial platform serving millions of users across one of the world’s most dynamic financial markets,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in the release. He called its regulatory licensing and tokenization infrastructure “unmatched in Latin America.”

Where the Money Goes

Mercado Bitcoin plans to use the capital to expand payments infrastructure, scale tokenized investment products for retail and institutional investors, grow lending and credit, advance on-chain capital markets, and continue international expansion, per the release.

Mercado Bitcoin Chairman and CEO Roberto Dagnoni said the company has spent “more than a decade building the regulated foundation” for on-chain finance and that the investment “strengthens our ability to accelerate the next generation of on-chain financial services in Brazil and across global markets.”

The deal extends Tether’s pattern of strategic stakes in regional financial infrastructure, following its $200 million investment in payments platform Whop in February and its backing of Ark Labs to bring stablecoins to Bitcoin in March.