Hyundai trials Tether-powered treasury payments across US and Mexico

Hyundai Motor’s U.S. and Mexican operations have completed a pilot cross-border treasury payment using Tether’s USDT stablecoin, settling a $20,000 transfer in about seven minutes over the Avalanche blockchain.

According to Tether, the proof-of-concept involved Hyundai Motor America converting U.S. dollars into USDT before sending the stablecoin to Hyundai Motor Mexico, where it was converted back into U.S. dollars.

Tether said the transfer, including verification, took around seven minutes, while a conventional cross-border bank transfer would typically require three to four hours or longer.

The pilot tested stablecoins inside corporate treasury operations

Supporting the pilot, Tether said Axiym supplied the settlement infrastructure, while Hyundai Card designed the remittance structure and managed the regulatory, compliance, accounting and operational requirements needed for the test.

According to Tether, the companies built the trial to determine whether stablecoin settlement could fit into existing corporate treasury processes without requiring changes to governance, compliance or accounting frameworks.

The next stage will extend testing to additional payment corridors and local currency settlements, according to Tether, as the participating companies evaluate stablecoin settlement across more enterprise treasury workflows.

Corporate treasury has become one of the fastest-growing areas for stablecoin adoption. In April, treasury management software provider Kyriba partnered with Circle to integrate the USDC stablecoin into its enterprise treasury platform.

According to the companies, treasury teams can manage stablecoin balances alongside cash positions, complete eligible cross-border and intercompany payments in near real time, and access liquidity outside normal banking hours while continuing to use existing treasury approval processes.

A separate report from Bitso Business, published this month, found stablecoin transaction volumes on its platform rose 81% year over year during the first half of 2026.

According to Bitso Business, the increase came from demand for real-time settlement, treasury management and cross-border liquidity solutions. The company added that more than 60% of newly onboarded business clients during the period were financial institutions, including banks and licensed payment providers.

Tether continues expanding its enterprise strategy

Business adoption surveys also indicate rising corporate interest in stablecoins. According to a June report by Paybis, 22.5% of surveyed businesses already use stablecoins for international payments or expect to do so within the next 12 months.

The report, citing McKinsey research, said business-to-business transactions accounted for roughly 60% of the estimated $390 billion in global stablecoin payment volume recorded during 2025.

DefiLlama data shows the stablecoin market has continued to expand alongside that adoption. According to the analytics platform, total stablecoin market capitalization has reached about $312.3 billion, up roughly 21.5% from $257.1 billion a year earlier, with Tether’s USDT remaining the largest stablecoin by market value.

The Hyundai pilot arrives as Tether continues investing in blockchain infrastructure and enterprise finance. As previously reported by crypto.news, the company invested $20 million in Mercado Bitcoin on July 7 to support the Brazilian digital asset platform’s expansion into tokenized assets, blockchain payments, lending and on-chain capital markets.

Tether said it is prioritizing companies that combine regulatory approvals with blockchain infrastructure capable of serving institutional demand.

Recent activity has extended beyond Latin America. During June, Tether announced plans to lead a funding round of up to $1.4 billion for German robotics company NEURA Robotics, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre on tokenization initiatives and blockchain education, and confirmed it would discontinue Alloy by Tether and its aUSDT token following a review of market demand and platform usage.