Hyundai Tests Tether USDT for Cross-border Treasury Transfers

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

According to Tether, Hyundai Motor America converted the funds into USDT, transferred the stablecoin to Hyundai Motor Mexico and converted it back into US dollars. The transfer and verification process took about seven minutes, compared with three to four hours or more for a traditional cross-border bank transfer.

Tether said the pilot used Axiym’s settlement infrastructure, while Hyundai Card designed the remittance structure and oversaw the regulatory, compliance, accounting and operational requirements needed to support the proof of concept.

The pilot was designed to evaluate whether stablecoin-based settlement could be integrated into existing corporate treasury operations without changing governance, compliance or accounting processes. The next phase will expand testing to additional payment corridors and local currency settlements as the companies evaluate broader enterprise treasury workflows.

Related: Japan’s SBI to launch yen stablecoin lending with 3% yield

Corporate treasury emerges as key stablecoin use case

Corporate treasury has become an increasingly important focus for stablecoin companies, with firms rolling out products designed to support cross-border payments, liquidity management and intercompany settlement.

In April, treasury management software provider Kyriba partnered with Circle to integrate the USDC stablecoin into its enterprise treasury platform. The collaboration allows treasury teams to manage stablecoin balances alongside cash positions, settle eligible cross-border and intercompany payments in near-real time, and access liquidity outside traditional banking hours using existing treasury workflows and approval controls.

A Bitso Business report published this month found stablecoin transaction volumes processed on its platform increased 81% year over year in the first half of 2026, driven by demand for real-time settlement, treasury management and cross-border liquidity solutions. More than 60% of new business clients onboarded during the period were financial institutions, including banks and licensed payment providers.

Business surveys also point to growing enterprise adoption. A June Paybis report found that 22.5% of surveyed businesses already use stablecoins for international payments or plan to within the next 12 months. Citing McKinsey research, the report said business-to-business transactions accounted for roughly 60% of the estimated $390 billion in global stablecoin payment volume in 2025.

The enterprise push comes as the stablecoin market continues to grow. Total stablecoin market capitalization has climbed to about $312.3 billion, up roughly 21.5% from $257.1 billion a year earlier, according to DefiLlama, with Tether’s USDT remaining the largest stablecoin by market value.

Source: Defillama

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