Hyundai Motor’s U.S. and Mexican operations have successfully completed a proof-of-concept cross-border treasury payment using Tether’s USDT stablecoin on the Avalanche blockchain. The corporate pilot settled an intercompany transfer of $20,000 in approximately seven minutes — a drastic reduction compared to the three to four hours typically needed for a conventional bank wire.
According to Tether, Hyundai Motor America converted U.S. dollars into USDT, sent the stablecoin to Hyundai Motor Mexico, and converted it back into U.S. dollars upon arrival. The entire process, including verification, took around seven minutes. Hyundai Card designed the remittance structure and managed all regulatory, compliance, accounting, and operational requirements, while technology vendor Axiym provided the settlement infrastructure. The test was specifically built to determine whether stablecoin settlement could fit into existing corporate treasury processes without altering governance, compliance, or accounting frameworks.
The next phase will extend testing to additional payment corridors and local currency settlements. Tether confirmed that a second pilot with European subsidiaries is planned later this month, where strategic cooperation with Circle and Visa will analyze multi-currency transfers involving euros and British pounds.
This pilot highlights the accelerating corporate adoption of stablecoins. Data from DefiLlama shows total stablecoin market capitalization reaching $312.3 billion in July 2026, up 21.5% year-over-year. A recent Bitso Business report found that stablecoin transaction volumes on its platform surged 81% year-over-year in the first half of 2026, driven by demand for real‑time settlement and treasury management. Additionally, a Paybis survey indicated that 22.5% of businesses already use or plan to use stablecoins for international payments within 12 months, and McKinsey research estimated that business-to-business transactions accounted for roughly 60% of the $390 billion in global stablecoin payment volume in 2025.
Tether continues to expand its enterprise strategy, having recently invested $20 million in Mercado Bitcoin and announced plans to lead a $1.4 billion funding round for NEURA Robotics. The company also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre on tokenization and blockchain education.
