Tether Launches Stablecoin Pegged to the Mexican Peso

Tether, the issuer of USDT, the world’s largest stablecoin by market cap, has launched a new stablecoin pegged to the value of the Mexican peso, the company announced Thursday. 

Tether Launches Its Fourth Stablecoin

The new stablecoin will be traded alongside Tether’s three stable assets: USD, EUR, and CNH₮ which are pegged to the US dollar, euro, and the Chinese yuan respectively. 

According to the Switzerland-based technology company, MXN₮ will first be available on Ethereum, Tron, and Polygon before extending to other blockchain protocols. 

Tether noted that the launch of the new stablecoin marks its first entrance into the Latin American cryptocurrency market. The company will use MXN₮ to expand its userbase in the region and as an avenue to unlock other fiat pegged products across Latin America. 

Users in Mexico and other LatAm regions will be able to use MXN₮ to minimize volatility as it allows them to swap their fiat to stable digital assets. 

Speaking on the new stablecoin launch, Paolo Ardoino, the chief technology officer at Tether noted that introducing MXN₮ to the Latin America market will provide a store of value to the emerging markets in the region. 

“We have seen a rise in cryptocurrency usage in Latin America over the last year that has made it apparent that we need to expand our offerings. Introducing a peso-pegged stablecoin will provide a store of value for those in the emerging markets and in particular Mexico,” he said. 

Stablecoins Struggle Amid Bear Market

Meanwhile, the stablecoin market has been quite unstable since around the beginning of this month, which led to the eventual downfall of Terra (LUNA).

As reported, TerraUSD (UST), the algorithmic stablecoin of Terra, lost its pegged to the US, crashing down to zero despite all the efforts from the project to restore the peg. The drama also saw the death of LUNA, the governance token of the Terra ecosystem, as the cryptocurrency fell 99.9% from its ATH. 

Tether USDT was also affected by the poor sentiment in the stablecoin market. During the Terra fiasco, the leading stablecoin deppeged from the US dollar and traded as low as $0.96 on some crypto exchanges.

At the time of writing, however, USDT had regained its peg and was trading at $1.