Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, has invested $100 million to acquire a 9.8% stake in Latin American agricultural giant Adecoagro. This marks Tether’s first venture into the agriculture and food sector, following its investments in artificial intelligence, Bitcoin mining operations, and digital education initiatives.
Tether announced the investment in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), stating that it “used cash from its own working capital” for the acquisition. As a result, Tether now owns 10,048,249 shares of Adecoagro, representing 9.8% of the company’s outstanding common shares.
Adecoagro, founded in 2002, is a leading milk producer in Argentina, with a processing capacity of 550,000 liters per day at its Buenos Aires plant. The company expanded into sugar, ethanol, and energy businesses in Brazil in 2005.
Tether’s USDT remains the largest stablecoin, with a market capitalization exceeding $118 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. However, competition in the stablecoin market has been heating up, especially with the introduction of new players like PayPal’s US dollar-pegged stablecoin, PayPal USD, which has already surpassed $1 billion in total market capitalization.
Additionally, Ripple Labs has begun testing its U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin, Ripple USD (RLUSD), on the XRP ledger and Ethereum mainnets, with plans to launch the fiat-backed token on more blockchain networks in the future.
The stablecoin market hit a record $168 billion in market capitalization on August 26, 2024, excluding algorithmic stablecoins. This figure reflects a rebound after the market had fallen to $135 billion by the end of 2022.
