Ualá Secures US$20 Million From Tether to Accelerate Regional Growth

Tether has invested US$20 million in Argentine fintech Ualá, joining the company's shareholder base as part of the US$197 million funding round announced in March. The investment will support the company's growth strategy across Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia, where it already serves more than 11 million users.

Tether joins Ualá's shareholder base

Argentine fintech Ualá, founded by Pierpaolo Barbieri, confirmed a US$20 million investment from Tether as part of the US$197 million financing round announced earlier this year. Following the transaction, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin became one of the company's shareholders, which is now valued at US$3.2 billion.

The new capital will be used to accelerate Ualá's growth strategy and further expand its financial ecosystem in Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia.

"We always want to be at the forefront of new products, but today we are a bank in all of our markets and, given the regulatory environment in Argentina and Mexico, there will be no integration of stablecoins," said Pierpaolo Barbieri.

Tether continues expanding its presence in Latin America

The investment in Ualá adds to a series of recent transactions by Tether across Latin America. In recent months, the company led a funding round in Argentine platform Belo, announced an investment in Brazilian exchange Mercado Bitcoin, and previously acquired a majority stake in Adecoagro, broadening its regional strategy beyond the cryptocurrency sector.

These moves reflect Tether's continued interest in expanding its presence across different segments of the Latin American financial ecosystem.

Mexico remains a strategic market for Ualá

With the additional funding, Ualá will continue prioritizing its expansion in Mexico, a market the company considers to have significant potential due to the relatively low adoption of digital payments. At the same time, it will continue strengthening its operations in Argentina and Colombia.

Barbieri also noted that Ualá's Argentine business has improved the quality of its loan portfolio in recent months. According to the executive, this progress would allow the company to reach break-even once again and allocate a larger share of its capital toward international expansion and the development of new financial products.