Tether adds regulated EU beachhead with Bit2Me stake, leads 30 million euros raise

Stablecoin issuer Tether has acquired a minority equity stake in Spanish crypto exchange Bit2Me and is leading a 30 million euros ($32.7 million) funding round that will close in the coming weeks, the company said Thursday.

Proceeds will finance Bit2Me’s expansion across the European Union — where it just became the first Spanish-speaking exchange licensed under the EU’s MiCA framework — and bolster growth in Latin America, with an initial focus on Argentina. Bit2Me’s Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) license lets it passport services across all 27 EU states, a critical regulatory approval as MiCA rules guide how crypto operators can do business.

Investing in the platform also provides Tether with a European beachhead after new laws tightened USDT’s presence in the market. Several venues delisted or deprioritized crypto’s largest stablecoin over the last year as the framework took effect.

Founded in 2014 and serving 1.2 million users, Bit2Me did not share plans to list USDT for the moment.

The move extends an investment spree by Tether, which last quarter posted a record $4.9 billion net profit, including interest from its $127 billion U.S. Treasury portfolio. In June, Tether bought a 32% stake in gold-royalty firm Elemental Altus for roughly $89 million and backed two startups launching a MiCA-compliant stablecoin initiative after USDT delistings in Europe.