Tether Invests $20M in Mercado Bitcoin as USDT Faces Europe Limits

On July 7 2026 Tether announced a $20 million strategic investment in Brazil's Mercado Bitcoin to expand tokenized assets, payments, lending and cross-border services across Latin America. The move builds on Mercado Bitcoin's existing scale of 4.5 million users and more than R$2 billion in tokenized assets while highlighting Tether's geographic pivot toward high-growth regulated markets. At the same time USDT is encountering tighter restrictions in Europe under MiCA with exchanges including Kraken, OKX and Revolut limiting support in the EEA, underscoring Tether's shift from pure stablecoin distribution toward broader blockchain infrastructure.