Stablecoin issuer Tether is launching Tether Tokens “USD₮” in more than 24,000 ATMs in Brazil.
In an announcement on Thursday, Tether said that these USD₮ tokens would be made available through SmartPay.
“Adding tether tokens to ATMs across Brazil provides the opportunity to include more people in the financial system. This will bring major changes not only to the payments industry but to the entire Brazilian financial ecosystem,” said Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Tether, in a statement.
A study in January 2021 estimated that Brazil has around 34 million unbanked adults. Data also shows that, in terms of value moved, USD₮ is one of the most widely used tokens in the country. In August, over $1.4 billion USD₮ was moved across 79,836 operations.
With this new integration, Brazil’s residents will be able to convert their stablecoins into Brazilian reais at local Banco24Horas ATMs. These ATMs are operated by TecBan and can be found at several popular retail hotspots like malls and grocery stores.
Brazil has one of the highest crypto adoption rates across the world, with over 10 million people investing in cryptocurrencies. The digital asset space still remains largely unregulated in the country despite the fact that lawmakers have been working on a framework for crypto regulation since 2015. In April 2022, a final version of the draft bill was approved by the Senate and can be expected to come into effect once final revisions are completed.
