Stablecoin issuer Tether is in early talks with Trafigura on a USDT▼$0.9988 payment pilot at Puma Energy gas stations in El Salvador.
Tether, the stablecoin company behind USDT, is in early talks with Trafigura, one of the world’s biggest commodity traders, about using its stablecoin at gas stations in El Salvador, Bloomberg reports.
According to the report, the pilot would focus on Puma Energy, Trafigura’s fuel distribution arm, and would let consumers pay for fuel or snacks with USDT at Puma gas stations.
But the pilot wouldn’t necessarily mean Puma directly holds stablecoins since customers would pay in USDT, while an intermediary would convert it into dollars for Puma, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg, adding that the talks are still at an early technical stage.
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Stablecoins Move Into Commodities
If launched, the pilot would be the first known stablecoin collaboration between Tether and a major commodity trader, Bloomberg notes.
Tether has already been pushing into natural resources and the company previously said it financed a crude oil deal between an oil major and a commodity trader, though it didn’t name the companies or say whether the transaction used USDT or dollars.
The stablecoin giant has also stockpiled about $20 billion worth of gold, invested in mining firms and explored lending part of its profits to commodity traders. The company’s CEO Paolo Ardoino said in November that Tether planned to “dramatically” expand that lending business after already extending $1.5 billion in loans.
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