Tether announced Thursday that it plans to make its USDT available at more than 24,000 ATMs across Brazil.
The difficulties and constraints imposed by inflation and a less than inclusive financial system have excluded many of Brazil’s citizens from participating in the country’s growing economy. Adding Tether to ATMs across Brazil offers the opportunity to draw more people into the financial system.
– Paolo Ardoino (CTO of Tether)
ATM users in Brazil will soon be able to convert their Brazilian reals into USDT, and vice versa. In addition, they can ship their USDT anywhere.
This will bring major changes not only for the payments industry, but for the entire Brazilian financial ecosystem
– Ardoino
To expand USDT’s presence in South America’s largest economy, Tether partnered with Brazilian payment company SmartPay. The company helped integrate USDT with the Brazilian payment system PiX and TecBan, the largest ATM provider in Brazil. The program will start on November 3.
Cryptocurrencies, especially stablecoins such as USDT, have become particularly popular in Latin American markets in recent years. Consumers are interested in both the accessibility of cryptos and their usefulness as a store of value that have often proved less volatile than national currencies.
Stablecoins such as USDT are typically pegged to the value of the US dollar and are backed by real-world assets controlled by US financial institutions. For this reason, they have gained traction as financial products that offer the autonomy of a crypto asset and the stability of reliable fiat money.
Inflation in Brazil
The Brazilian economy has been struggling with high inflation for more than a year. September was the first month since June 2021 that inflation fell below 9%. Brazil’s reliance on stablecoins will more than triple by 2021, according to Brazilian tax authority Receita Federal.
As Tether has expanded its global dominance, the company has taken steps to increase the perception of its stability and transparency. Last week, Tether announced that the commercial paper completely from its reserves and would replace those investments with US Treasury Bills. This move was largely seen as an attempt to appease US regulators who were concerned about the stability of the company’s reserves.
