Key Insights
- Tether funds Orionx to grow stablecoin-powered financial services in Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico.
- The investment supports expanding Orionx’s cross-border payments, merchant settlement, and digital treasury tools.
- Latin America sees a surge in stablecoin use amid inflation, devaluation, and limited access to traditional banking.
Chile-based Orionx has received a strategic investment from Tether, which wants to grow stablecoin infrastructure in Latin America. This will enhance digital payment networks, boost remittance flows, and bolster treasury adoption in key markets.
Tether Backs Orionx to Scale Regional Operations
Chilean digital asset platform Orionx, which operates across Latin America, has closed a Series A investment led by Tether. Orionx can expand its operations in Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico.
These countries are seeing rapid growth in demand for digital dollar access. The deal is a major success for Orionx, though the amount remains undisclosed. It also highlights Tether’s commitment to supporting fintech growth in emerging markets.
Orionx will use the capital to enhance its core infrastructure and increase product offerings for businesses and retail users. They include cross-border remittance rails, digital treasury services, and merchant-facing settlement tools using USDT.
It also plans to improve onboarding with localized support, faster integration, and easier currency conversion. Tether’s investment supports the expansion of USDT in underserved areas. These regions lack fully developed traditional financial systems.
Economic instability in LATAM fuels strong local demand. Tether views Orionx as a vital gateway for providing low-cost, stable, and accessible financial tools.
Stablecoins Gain Traction in Financially Excluded Markets
Between July 2023 and June 2024, Latin America received nearly $415 Billion in crypto. Stablecoins led the inflows during this period. Inflation, currency devaluation, and high banking barriers persist in the region, making USDT a tool of choice for individuals and institutions.
Fiat currencies are unreliable. Stablecoins provide an alternative to them and allow secure value transfer without central intermediaries.
Inflation is eroding purchasing power in Argentina and Brazil. This has driven a sharp rise in stablecoin adoption as demand for dollar stability grows.
USDT is used by businesses for payroll and supplier payments, and by individuals for everyday transactions and long-term savings. This environment is a strong condition for stablecoin-powered platforms like Orionx to thrive.
However, Latin America still has the world’s second-highest percentage of unbanked adults. High fees, distance, and documentation requirements mean many people don’t have access to banks.
Platforms like Orionx address these gaps, which provide self-custodial tools to send and receive funds instantly and affordably.
A Strategic Step in Tether Global Expansion
Orionx’s investment by Tether illustrates a wider push to turn stablecoins from trading instruments to everyday financial tools. Orionx aims to provide remittance services to businesses. This will enable instant cross-border payments and collections with stablecoin settlement.
Moving simplifies treasury management, reduces costs, and adds real utility to USDT in commerce. Tether also gains deeper exposure to local operations without building new systems.
USDT has regional expertise, regulatory knowledge, and a growing user base that Orionx can bring to underserved communities. Meanwhile, Tether is expanding its ecosystem globally.
It also recently launched XAUt₀. It is a gold-backed omnichain token on the TON blockchain in partnership with Orionx. This token gives investors access to gold-backed digital assets. As gold reaches record highs, it allows seamless movement across networks.
The company also moved over 37,000 BTC to Twenty One Capital. This indicated that the company is interested in institutional-level mining and asset diversification.
In Q1 2025, there were 39 million USDT users worldwide, and transfers of USDT averaged over 11 million per day. USDT’s U.S. Treasury holdings would make it the 19th-largest sovereign nation in the world.
Stablecoins are playing a growing role in global finance. Each transaction extends the influence of the US dollar worldwide.
The Orionx investment is another step for Tether to embed stablecoins into real-world use cases across emerging economies. The goal is clear: to expand access, reduce friction, and empower financial access to regions that traditional systems have underserved.
Moses K is a crypto journalist covering markets, regulation, and blockchain trends. He has written for The Coin Republic, Coinchapter, Cryptopolitan, Cryptotale, Coinspeaker, and MPost. Known for his concise, data-driven reporting, Moses focuses on price analysis, on-chain metrics, and policy developments shaping the global digital asset landscape.
