Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan are the countries that Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, specifically, are hoping to penetrate with this new investment.
The massive stablecoin Tether is putting more money into the Georgia-based cryptocurrency payment company CityPay.io in an attempt to increase its wagers on the acceptance of cryptocurrencies in Eastern Europe.
On May 8, Tether formally stated that it had invested an extra sum of money in CityPay.io, a payment network that enables customers to pay using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin for services at establishments like Wendy’s and Radisson Hotels.
The goal of the investment is to support CityPay.io’s growth into Eastern Europe, with a particular emphasis on Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.
With more than 600 sites in Georgia as of May 2024, CityPay.io intends to introduce its own card and e-wallet solutions over the following two years. The company also intends to open over 500,000 cryptocurrency payment locations within the approved growth areas.
The most recent funding comes after Tether became one of the first stablecoin companies in the world to invest in CityPay.io in 2023.
Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, stated, “Our prior collaboration with CityPay.io yielded exciting results in expanding convenient cryptocurrency use across Georgia.”
“We hope to build on those successes and accelerate the uptake of innovative technologies that challenge established payment systems with this second investment.”
Tether and CityPay.io have been working together closely ever since the stablecoin startup revealed its first funding earlier this year.
CityPay.io introduced the Tether payment connection on top of Polygon in October 2023. In September 2023, as Tether’s presence in Georgia increased, CEO Ardoino also met with representatives of the Georgian government.
Tether and the Georgian government inked a memorandum of agreement in June 2023 to establish Bitcoin and peer-to-peer infrastructure in Georgia.
Georgia, a former Soviet state, has become one of the most crypto-friendly nations in the world, and its government hopes to establish Georgia as a major worldwide hub for cryptocurrencies.
In addition to Tether, Georgia has attracted several other significant cryptocurrency companies, including as Binance, which established a blockchain hub there in 2023.
Many people are aware that Georgia is home to a sizable number of Bitcoin ATMs, which let users exchange cryptocurrency for cash and vice versa. As of the time of writing, Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, had 132 Bitcoin ATMs, according to statistics from CoinATMRadar.
