Tether Invests in Agricultural Firm Adecoagro, Expanding into Commodities Market

Tether, the world's largest digital asset company, is acquiring Argentine dairy producer Adecoagro for $600 million. The move is aimed at integrating its stablecoin, USDT, into commodity markets, reducing international payment costs and times. This is another sign of the rapidly expanding crypto sector moving into traditional businesses and investing in physical assets.

Tether, the world's largest digital assets company, has made a significant move into the global commodities trade by acquiring a majority stake in Adecoagro, a South American agricultural firm. The acquisition, valued at around $600 million, involves Tether buying 70% of Adecoagro's shares. Adecoagro produces dairy in Argentina, rice in Uruguay, and sugar and ethanol in Brazil, among other products [1].

This strategic acquisition aims to embed Tether's stablecoin, USDT, into the core of markets where raw materials are bought and sold. The move promises to slash cross-border payment costs and times from days to seconds, leveraging the efficiency of blockchain technology. The acquisition is part of the broader trend of the crypto industry expanding into brick-and-mortar businesses and broadening investments in physical assets [1].

Tether's main business segment is USDT, a digital currency backed mostly by U.S. Treasuries. Launched in 2014, USDT has grown sharply in trading volumes amid rising interest in cryptocurrency and token prices. Unlike traditional cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum, USDT is designed to track the U.S. dollar, the currency dominating global trade [1].

Tether has issued $143 billion in USDT so far, and it has $149 billion in reserves, including $120 billion in U.S. Treasuries. The company aims to leverage these reserves to boost the use of USDT for cross-border payments, a sector that is expected to grow significantly in financial markets, particularly in commodities markets [1].

According to Marcos Viriato, the chief executive of Parfin, a South American company providing technology for transactions with cryptocurrencies, the current payment process for commodities can take more than three days. With USDT, the payment process could be reduced to seconds, with significantly lower operational costs [1].

This acquisition is not an isolated event in the crypto industry. Stablecoin fever is still running hot, with Zerohash, a crypto and stablecoin infrastructure startup, set to raise about $100 million at nearly a $1 billion valuation. This funding round is led by Interactive Brokers and follows Zerohash's Series D in 2022 [2].

The crypto markets are frothy again as Bitcoin has repeatedly notched new all-time highs in 2025. The stablecoin issuer Circle went public in a gangbuster IPO, and the Senate passed a bill that would regulate crypto assets. Fortune 500 companies have shown interest in stablecoins, with retailers like Walmart and Amazon exploring adoption, and Big Tech firms like Meta, Apple, Airbnb, and Google speaking with crypto companies about integrating stablecoins into their payments infrastructure [2].

Tether's move into the commodities trade is a bold step that could significantly impact the global financial system. By leveraging its stablecoin and physical assets, Tether is positioning itself to play a crucial role in the future of cross-border payments and the global commodities trade.

References:
[1] https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/why-crypto-giant-tether-bought-100117502.html
[2] https://fortune.com/crypto/2025/07/11/zerohash-stablecoin-fundraise-interactive-brokers-100-million-1-billion-valuation/