Key Takeaways:
Tether is pushing USDT beyond crypto trading into cross-border payments through a strategic investment in African remittance startup LemFi.
Tether invested in LemFi, a digital remittance startup, to integrate USDT as a settlement layer for cross-border payments across Africa and Asia, the companies said May 18.
"At Tether, our goal is to promote financial inclusion, and we are committed to working with platforms building scalable financial solutions that address the real needs of our 585 million users globally," Paolo Ardoino, chief executive officer of Tether, said in a statement.
The investment came two days before PayPal expanded access to its PYUSD stablecoin to Africa, intensifying competition for dominance in emerging-market remittances. Tether generated $33 million net profit per employee in 2025, compared with $185,000 at PayPal, according to company filings. USDT's market capitalization has grown to more than $185 billion, with stablecoins accounting for roughly 75% of total crypto trading volume, per CoinGecko data.
The deal positions Tether to capture a share of the $800 billion-plus global remittance market, where traditional corridors operated by Western Union and MoneyGram still rely on multi-day SWIFT settlement. Tether said it will help LemFi replace those chains with near-instant, low-cost settlement using USDT, potentially converting each remittance recipient into a new Tether user.
Why distribution matters for stablecoin issuers
Tether's investment strategy reflects a structural challenge: unlike PayPal, which controls a closed network of more than 400 million consumers and 30 million merchants, Tether depends on third-party distribution channels for USDT usage. The company has deployed capital into LemFi and Sorted Wallet to guarantee distribution as alternatives like Circle's USDC and PayPal's PYUSD gain traction.
"Tether's investment aims to support LemFi's integration of USDT as a settlement layer across its key corridors, replacing multi-day SWIFT chains with near-instant, low-cost settlement across Africa and Asia," Tether said in its announcement. The company said the integration will progressively extend across LemFi's broader product suite.
PayPal, by contrast, can afford to be exclusionary — processing only PYUSD on its platform and dangling zero or cheaper fees for cross-border transfers. "Consumers and businesses around the world are looking for faster, more seamless ways to transact globally, and the current system still charges too much, takes too long, and settles on timelines that were designed for a different era," May Zabaneh, senior vice president and general manager of crypto at PayPal, said.
Broader shift in cross-border payments infrastructure
The competition between Tether and PayPal mirrors a wider transformation in global payments. Visa's crypto card spending reached a record $7.8 billion, up 230% since May 2025, with Visa capturing about 90% of on-chain crypto card payments, according to Paymentscan data. Visa and Bridge, the stablecoin infrastructure firm owned by Stripe, announced plans to reach more than 100 countries with their stablecoin-linked card program by the end of 2026.
Central banks are also moving. Project Agorá, led by the Bank for International Settlements and the Institute of International Finance, completed a test for near-instant cross-border settlement backed by seven major central banks and 40 financial firms including JPMorgan Chase, HSBC and Visa. The prototype uses distributed ledger technology to let commercial banks send money across borders by converting bank deposits into tokens.
For Tether, the LemFi investment represents a bet that USDT's first-mover advantage in emerging markets — where dollar liquidity is scarce and inflation is high — will withstand competition from better-capitalized entrants. The company's ability to convert remittance users into long-term USDT holders will determine whether this distribution play succeeds.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
