Tether Invests in EFY Finance to Scale Institutional Stablecoin Infrastructure in Latin America

Tether has invested in EFY Finance’s seed round to strengthen stablecoin infrastructure across Latin America. For fintech professionals, this move signals a deepening integration between digital assets and traditional banking in high-inflation markets, specifically targeting institutional use cases for USD₮ and the newly supported USA₮ stablecoin within regulated regional corridors.

What was announced

Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, joined the seed funding round for EFY Finance to accelerate the adoption of USD₮ and USA₮. EFY Finance operates as a financial infrastructure provider, offering cross-border payments, digital asset custody, and on- and off-ramp services. The company currently supports more than 12 currencies and corridors, providing settlement to local bank accounts across 17 countries.

The investment is specifically designed to bridge the gap between stablecoins and the traditional financial systems used by businesses and institutional users. EFY Finance is licensed as a Digital Asset Service Provider in El Salvador and manages over 25,000 active individual and business accounts. Its operations are particularly concentrated in Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, El Salvador, Panama, and Ecuador, where it already maintains a meaningful presence.

A key component of this partnership involves USA₮, a U.S.-dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital Bank N.A., a federally chartered bank. Tether has supported the launch of USA₮ to serve the U.S. market with a focus on regulatory compliance. By backing EFY Finance, Tether aims to provide a regulated rail for this asset to interact with local payment networks and cards throughout Latin America, where stablecoin purchases now represent over half of all exchange activity. This follows data from Chainalysis showing nearly $1.5 trillion in cryptocurrency transaction volume in the region between July 2022 and June 2025.

"Across Latin America, the US dollar is a lifeline against inflation and capital controls. USD₮ and USA₮ are how people access it, but doing so simply and reliably takes regulated infrastructure, banking connections, and real distribution. That is the gap EFY Finance is positioned to close, bringing the dollar within easier reach across the region,"

Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether.

The companies involved

Tether is the dominant player in the digital asset industry, best known for its USD₮ stablecoin which serves as a primary liquidity source for the global crypto market. Led by CEO Paolo Ardoino, the company has increasingly moved beyond simple issuance to invest in infrastructure that connects digital assets with real-world economic activity. Tether’s ecosystem now includes support for specialized assets like USA₮, which is purpose-built to serve the U.S. market and designed to comply with federal regulatory standards.

EFY Finance is a Latin American fintech focused on making money movement as fast and borderless as the internet. The company provides the underlying infrastructure that allows businesses to integrate digital dollars into their daily operations, including bank account connectivity and local payment network access. Based in the region, EFY Finance leverages its regulatory status in El Salvador to provide a compliant gateway for institutional stablecoin use. The company’s leadership includes Co-Founder and CEO Andrés Tobón, who oversees the firm’s expansion across nearly 20 countries.

What FF News has reported before

Tether has been active in expanding its global footprint and institutional access points through strategic investments. FF News recently reported on the Colombian Fintech Plenti Secures $3M Seed Round Led by Tether to Expand Digital Dollar Access, which similarly targeted the Latin American market. In Europe, we covered how Freemarket and Axiym Launch LIQUI-DT for Real-Time Primary-Market Tether Access. Additionally, the company has pursued public-sector collaborations, such as when Tether Partners with National Bank of Kazakhstan to Drive Stablecoin and Tokenization Innovation. These moves reflect a broader trend of stablecoin integration, also seen when Mantle Joins Global Dollar Network with Native USDG Stablecoin Integration.

What this means

This investment highlights a strategic shift in the stablecoin sector from speculative retail trading toward institutional utility. By funding the "plumbing" of the financial system—on-ramps, off-ramps, and local settlement—Tether is attempting to make USD₮ and USA₮ indispensable to Latin American businesses facing currency volatility. This puts traditional cross-border remittance providers and local banks under pressure to either integrate these digital rails or risk losing volume to faster, cheaper stablecoin-based alternatives. The success of this model depends heavily on the continued maturation of regulatory frameworks in jurisdictions like El Salvador and Colombia, which remain the testing grounds for stablecoin-native banking.