Hyundai Completes Cross-Border Treasury Pilot Using USDT Stablecoin Between U.S. and Mexico

Hyundai Motor’s U.S. and Mexican subsidiaries have successfully completed a pilot cross-border treasury transfer using Tether’s USDT stablecoin, marking a significant step toward integrating digital assets into corporate finance operations.

The pilot involved a $20,000 payment settled in approximately seven minutes via the Avalanche blockchain. According to Tether, Hyundai Motor America converted U.S. dollars into USDT, transferred the stablecoin to Hyundai Motor Mexico, and then converted it back into dollars. This process contrasts sharply with traditional cross-border bank transfers, which typically take three to four hours or longer.

The trial leveraged Axiym’s settlement infrastructure, while Hyundai Card designed the remittance framework and managed regulatory, compliance, accounting, and operational requirements to ensure alignment with existing corporate governance standards. The primary objective was to assess whether stablecoin-based settlements could be seamlessly integrated into current treasury workflows without disrupting established compliance or accounting protocols.

Building on this proof of concept, the next phase will expand testing to additional payment corridors and explore local currency settlements as the companies evaluate broader enterprise treasury applications.

This initiative reflects a growing trend of corporate treasury adoption of stablecoins. In April, Kyriba partnered with Circle to integrate USDC into its enterprise treasury platform, enabling real-time cross-border and intercompany payments alongside traditional cash management. Similarly, Bitso Business reported an 81% year-over-year increase in stablecoin transaction volumes in the first half of 2026, driven by demand for real-time settlement and liquidity solutions.

Enterprise interest continues to rise: a June Paybis survey found that 22.5% of businesses either already use stablecoins for international payments or plan to within the next 12 months. McKinsey research cited in the report estimates that business-to-business transactions accounted for roughly 60% of the $390 billion in global stablecoin payment volume in 2025.

The stablecoin market itself is expanding rapidly. Total market capitalization now stands at approximately $312.3 billion—up 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