Tether, the largest digital asset company and USDT issuer globally, signals a significant entry into the Latin American commodity markets with the $600 million purchase of a controlling stake in regional agribusiness leader Adecoagro.
According to Reuters, the agreement announced in March awarded Tether approximately 70% of Adecoagro.
The New York-listed company makes dairy in Argentina, sugar and rice in Brazil, and ethanol in Uruguay.
The acquisition will allow Tether to deepen its US dollar-pegged stablecoin into the multi-trillion-dollar global commodities trade, beginning with agricultural and energy exports in South America, the company said.
Bringing stablecoins into the real economy
Tether’s USDT token, introduced in 2014, is intended to track the US dollar and is frequently used in cryptocurrency markets as a reliable store of value.
Unlike volatile cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, USDT is primarily supported by US Treasury bonds.
Tether reported $149 billion in reserves and $143 billion in issued USDT in its first-quarter 2025 report, with $120 trillion in Treasuries.
The company now intends to employ USDT for cross-border payments in traditional industries, rather than just cryptocurrency exchanges.
“Tether seeks to increase the use of its stablecoin for cross-border payments. “I believe this will grow significantly in the financial markets, particularly in commodities markets,” said Marcos Viriato, CEO of Parfin, a South American fintech that provides infrastructure for cryptocurrency transactions.
Parfin is cooperating with Banco Bradesco, Brazil’s third-largest bank, on a trial program that allows exporters to receive payments in USDT.
The stablecoin is converted into local currency and placed into firm accounts, lowering expenses and shortening transaction times from many days to mere seconds.
Crypto meets commodity production
The acquisition of Adecoagro is part of a larger trend where crypto firms have been making investments in physical assets.
Joe Sticco, CEO of Cryptex Finance, commented that Tether earns a steady income from businesses such as farmland and processing plants, making investments that complement the balance sheet of the crypto-oriented company and protect against inflation.
For Tether, the plan is two-pronged: fortify its financial base and get as much real-life usage of USDT as possible.
It is cooperating with Adecoagro management, as well as agricultural experts, to potentially leverage stablecoins in commodity transactions and increase liquidity and efficiency in trading.
This is not an untried concept for the company. Tether paid for a crude oil transaction between a large energy producer and a commodities broker with USDT in late 2024, a first for such an agreement to be fully settled in a stablecoin.
As geopolitical developments occur, such use cases gain traction. According to reports, Russia and Venezuela have used cryptocurrency to enable oil deals with countries such as China and India, so bypassing Western financial sanctions.
Tokenising Latin America’s harvest
While Tether has not announced any concrete intentions, industry experts believe the business would eventually tokenise agricultural items.
Gracy Chen, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Bitget, stated that, similar to Tether’s gold-backed token, the company may explore digital tokens for commodities such as corn or sugar.
These could be used as collateral for pre-harvest finance or as hedging tools for producers. “In effect, they’re turning farmland and sugar mills into programmable instruments of finance,” Chen told me.
Tether acknowledged the possibility of tokenising actual assets such as agricultural commodities, but stated that there are no imminent plans to release such tokens.
Renewables and Bitcoin mining
Meanwhile, Adecoagro’s renewable energy assets have already been put to use.
Tether has revealed that a portion of its bitcoin mining activities would be powered by electricity supplied by Adecoagro’s sugarcane-based mills in South America.
The move is consistent with Tether’s objective of integrating real-world infrastructure to serve its cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Tether is establishing its stablecoin as a major instrument in global trade by deepening its involvement in Latin America’s agricultural and energy economies.
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