Tether Invests $20M in Mercado Bitcoin as USDT Hits EU Limits

Tether has invested $20 million in Mercado Bitcoin, a regulated digital-asset platform based in Brazil, as USDT faces new limits on several European trading services after the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) transition period ended on July 1.

The funding is part of a strategic financing round to expand Mercado Bitcoin’s payments systems, tokenized investment products, lending services and international operations.

Mercado Bitcoin serves about 4.5 million users across Latin America. The company offers trading, tokenized assets, lending, payments and cross-border financial services. It reports more than R$2 billion issued in tokenized assets and holds over 10 regulatory licenses across Brazil and Europe, including a Payment Institution license from Brazil’s central bank.

Tether described the investment as support for building on-chain financial infrastructure at scale. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino described the company’s mission as building open, accessible and efficient financial infrastructure and called Mercado Bitcoin a regulated platform that combines tokenization, financial services and blockchain infrastructure.

Following the end of MiCA’s transition period on July 1, several regulated platforms in the European Economic Area limited or removed support for USDT, citing the stablecoin’s lack of MiCA authorization. Exchanges including Kraken, OKX and Revolut restricted USDT availability for European users.

Tether has not announced plans to seek MiCA authorization and has expanded through investments and partnerships outside Europe, with recent activity focused on Latin America.

Tether indicated the $20 million will be used to expand payments infrastructure, develop tokenized investment products, grow lending capabilities and build on-chain capital markets while supporting Mercado Bitcoin’s international expansion.

The investment follows Tether’s pattern of providing funding and partnerships to firms that develop tokenization, payments and blockchain-based financial infrastructure alongside its stablecoin operations.