ISSUE 142 | 2025
Raúl Serrano
As part of the 2025 Annual Energy Dinner (CAEE), focused on the energy and financial sectors, Tether presented for the first time in Bolivia the history, evolution, and usefulness of its stablecoin, USDT. The presentation highlighted its ability to democratize access to the U.S. dollar and offer solutions to economic volatility in developing countries.
Andrés Galindo Kim, General Director of Tether Latam the pioneering company behind the development of stablecoins delivered a presentation at CAEE 2025 about USDT, one of the most widely used crypto assets in the world, and its growing relevance in emerging markets.
“My goal today is for you to understand where this solution came from and what it can offer to realities like Bolivia’s,” Galindo Kim said as he opened his presentation. With an educational approach, he explained how USDT was launched in 2014 as a concrete response to a critical problem in the early days of the crypto ecosystem: the volatility of Bitcoin and the delays associated with international bank transfers.
Galindo Kim recalled that Tether was created as an extension of Bitfinex, one of the first cryptocurrency exchanges. In that context, he said, they identified a key need: to enable the U.S. dollar the most widely used currency in the world to circulate on the blockchain, ensuring speed, low transaction costs, and price stability.
“If I have a million USDT, I have a million dollars. And if I transfer 10 billion, I can do it instantly for just ten cents,” he emphasized.
A DIGITAL CURRENCY BACKED BY DOLLARS
This digital currency is backed 1:1 by U.S. dollar assets, which has enabled Tether to manage around $143 billion in reserves today, with a transaction volume of $20.5 trillion in 2023. To put it into perspective, the executive compared that figure to the $7 trillion processed by Mastercard during the same period.
He also noted that 37% of users utilize USDT to preserve value, especially in countries where access to dollars is limited but financial stability is urgently needed.
A PARTNER FOR CRISIS-STRICKEN ECONOMIES
Tether’s focus, he said, is primarily on emerging markets, where inflation, foreign exchange shortages, or capital controls make saving or transacting in dollars difficult. “USDT allows anyone, anywhere in the world, to access this digital currency without passport or geographic restrictions,” he said.
The digital wallet thus becomes a powerful tool for protecting income, making international payments, or simply preserving purchasing power in the face of devaluation offering an alternative financial management option for various sectors, including energy, which intersects with the global economic agenda.
“Andrés Galindo’s presentation captured the attention of over a hundred energy and finance executives gathered at the 2025 Annual Energy Dinner (CAEE)…”
The Tether representative also emphasized that, contrary to common misconceptions about crypto assets, transparency and legality are central pillars of its operation. “We work with over 250 law enforcement agencies in more than 50 countries, including the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service,” he stated.
TETHER AND THE POWER OF DIGITAL STABILITY: A GLOBAL SOLUTION BORN FROM FINANCIAL CHAOS
In this context, Galindo Kim told a packed audience gathered by ENERGÍABolivia magazine from Grupo CECAL S.R.L., at the Marriott Hotel in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, that USDT backed by U.S. Treasury bonds is now the world’s most widely used stablecoin. He emphasized that its adoption is growing in Latin America and that it offers concrete solutions to inflation, capital controls, and financial exclusion.
During his talk, the executive clearly explained the mechanism that supports USDT’s stability one of the biggest challenges for any digital asset. “In 2024, we were the seventh largest purchaser of U.S. Treasury bonds,” he noted, reiterating that Tether’s $143+ billion in reserves are mostly secured through U.S. Federal Reserve debt, thereby eliminating traditional banking risks such as bank runs or insolvencies like the Lehman Brothers case.
This contrasts, he explained, with Europe’s MiCA regulation (Markets in Crypto-Assets), which proposes that stablecoins hold reserves in European commercial banks—even though such deposits are not fully insured. In this sense, Tether’s model bets on maximum security and traceability.
“What we offer is a stable digital dollar powered by blockchain technology, enabling fast, transparent, and ultra-low-cost transactions. That’s why we’re the most used currency in the crypto industry,” he concluded.
MASS ADOPTION IN LATIN AMERICA AND BOLIVIA
Tether has experienced exponential growth. Globally, its USDT token is traded in over 25,000 digital asset pairs, far surpassing other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum.
In Latin America, the transaction volumes are impressive:
• Argentina: $91 billion in USDT transactions
• Brazil: $90 billion
• Mexico: $70 billion
• Venezuela: $49 billion
• Colombia: $28 billion
• Bolivia: $5.5 billion in 2023
These figures come from Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics firm, although the speaker noted that the actual amounts may be even higher, as many Bolivians conduct operations through foreign platforms.
REAL STORIES: HYPERINFLATION, REMITTANCES, AND SURVIVAL
In a more personal tone, the speaker shared his own story of how USDT became his financial lifeline. As a Venezuelan lawyer living in South Korea during a critical phase of Venezuela’s crisis, he found himself unable to access his U.S. bank accounts due to diplomatic sanctions.
“I had to make my first USDT transaction from a bank in Seoul with the few Korean won I had left. In one minute, I solved what banks couldn’t in weeks. That was the moment I saw the future,” he recalled.
Beyond serving as a hedge against hyperinflation, USDT has multiple uses from international remittances to payments for freelancers, tourism, and e-commerce. Examples include rural kiosks in Colombia integrated with crypto to receive remittances, or entrepreneurs who sell their products via social media and receive payments in USDT without relying on banks.
He even mentioned an Olympic anecdote: the Jamaican team received funding to compete thanks to crypto donations after sharing a QR code on television.
INTERNATIONAL TRADE: EFFICIENCY WITHOUT BORDERS
He also shared one of the most striking cases from his professional experience at an energy sector company in Venezuela, with clients like Chevron and Rostec, and operations in Brazil, Russia, Colombia, and the Netherlands. He described how the company faced serious difficulties moving money across international accounts due to banking restrictions and regulatory hurdles.
“I proposed using crypto, and although it initially sounded risky, I ended up solving their main financial bottleneck in Brazil. Since then, they never looked back,” he said, emphasizing that this is a legal digital asset that can be used as a means of payment, saving time and acting as a technology that empowers individuals, communities, cities, and nations to become self-sufficient, independent, and free.
The presentation by Andrés Galindo drew the attention of over a hundred energy and finance executives gathered at the 2025 Annual Energy Dinner (CAEE), held in April this year at the Marriott Hotel in Santa Cruz de la Sierra. It became the first stage in Bolivia to introduce such topics that aim to shake the institutional foundations of both the energy and financial sectors.
His session was moderated by energy analyst Juan Fernando Subirana and attorney Iver von Borries, who emphasized the importance of addressing these cross-cutting issues in Bolivia’s economic and energy agenda.
