Tether expands into Latin American market with Mexican peso-pegged stablecoin

On Thursday, Tether launched its new MXNT stablecoin pegged to Mexico's national currency, the peso. Initially, the stablecoin will be supported on Ethereum, Tron and Polygon Blockchains, according to the company’s blogpost. 

The launch of MXNT follows the company’s existing stablecoing USDT, EURT and CNHT, pegged to the U.S. dollar, Euro and Chinese Yuan respectively.  

Tether's CTO, Paolo Ardonio said, ‘We have seen a rise in cryptocurrency usage in Latin America over the last year that has made it apparent that we need to expand our offerings.’ and provide ‘a store of value’ and ‘minimize volatility for those looking to convert their assets and investments from fiat to digital currencies. Tether customers in this entirely new market will be able to benefit from the same transparent customer experience.’

The rationale behind the launch of MXNT is also supported by cryptocurrency payments company Triple A, which states that 40% of Mexican companies are looking to adopt Blockchain and cryptocurrencies in some form to shape Mexico as the prime location for ‘the next Latin American crypto hub’. Meanwhile, 71% in the sector has a special focus on cryptocurrency usage.

Tether believes MXNT will help resolve the barriers presented when conducting internal money transfers, and comes at an opportune time when Mexico’s cryptocurrency adoption is growing. Tether also noted the ‘unique opportunity’ in Mexico presented by the multibillion dollar flow of remittances into the country. 

‘The launch of MXNT will provide a testing ground for onboarding new users in the Latin American market and will pave the way for future fiat-pegged currencies in the region to be launched,’ the company wrote.

Earlier this month, following UST’s collapse, Tether published its Q1 2022 assurance report, explaining that the USDT stablecoin is fully backed and with its total assets worth at least US$ 82,424,821,101 (including cash and cash equivalents, corporate bonds, secured loans and other investments like cryptocurrencies), while its total liabilities (including issued stablecoins) is at US$ 82,262,430,079. 

Moreover, the company disclosed that it has reduced the commercial paper in its USDT reserves by 16.8%. Ardoino also disclosed that it has further reduced its commercial paper holdings by 20%, which will be noted Tether’s Q2, 2022 report.

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