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.

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

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Edited by

Oliver Knight

Jul 16, 2026, 10:12 a.m.

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Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino (Nikhilesh De/CoinDesk)

Summary

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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

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