Tether announced a strategic investment of $18.75 million, approximately NT$600 million, in XREX Group, an international financial institution based in Taiwan. The two parties have also reached multiple business cooperation agreements and launched new products.
Taiwan’s cryptocurrency industry has received another exciting news. Tether, the leader in digital assets, announced a significant investment of $18.75 million, approximately NT$600 million, in XREX Group. XREX recently obtained a digital payment license in Singapore, which greatly assists its cross-border compliance business. Tether stated that the collaboration between the two parties will accelerate the application of Tether’s largest market value stablecoin, USDT, in emerging markets, and contribute to the innovation of regulatory technology (RegTech).
Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, stated:
In addition to the collaboration with USDT, XREX will also promote gold tokens. According to insiders, the investment from Tether will mainly be used for the development of two major businesses. The first is the issuance of XAU1 tokens in collaboration with the Unitas Foundation. XAU1 is a tokenized gold linked to Tether Gold (XAUt), which is over-reserved with gold and pegged to the US dollar. It is estimated that XAU1 will be integrated into XREX’s payment system, including cross-border payment functions such as digital checks (BitCheck).
The second collaboration between Tether and XREX will focus on promoting regulatory technology (RegTech) to strengthen the detection and prevention of crimes related to the US dollar stablecoin. XREX will incorporate regulatory technology into one of its main product lines and is highly likely to release blockchain crime prevention-related products in the near future. It is reported that the Taiwan law enforcement agencies are currently using the product free of charge. By entering the wallet address in the Line ChatBot dialogue box, the law enforcement agencies can access information such as the source of the wallet, whether it belongs to a customer of a Taiwanese exchange, and the security coefficient of the funds.
Huang Yao-wen, co-founder and CEO of XREX, expressed his views on the related businesses:
XREX has attracted well-known investors, including the National Development Fund of the Executive Yuan, China Development Financial Holding Corporation (TWSE: 2883), SBI Investment (TYO: 8473), Yuanta Venture Capital (TWSE: 2884), ThreeD Capital (CSE: IDK), AppWorks, Wistron Capital, and New Economy Ventures. With the addition of Tether, the globally renowned issuer of the largest stablecoin USDT in terms of market value, XREX has gained even stronger partners for its future product development.
In terms of funding, XREX, established in 2018, raised $7 million in the seed round and $17 million in the Pre-A-1 round. Tether’s investment is part of the Pre-A-2 round, totaling $18.75 million. This means that XREX had raised over $42 million before entering the Series A funding round, demonstrating its strong fundraising capabilities as a Taiwanese team. It also indicates that the potential of blockchain finance is not limited to a single location and can attract the attention of international cutting-edge institutions and companies.
Xiao Hui-zong, co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer of XREX, commented on Tether’s investment:
In May, DigiTimes reported that XREX became the first cryptocurrency company in Taiwan to obtain a major payment institution license (MPI) in Singapore. XREX subsequently announced plans to launch the XREX PAY payment platform, targeting emerging markets and countries. This platform will enable small and medium-sized enterprises and importers/exporters to use blockchain payment methods that are faster and lower in cost than traditional financial institutions.
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