Tether Backs SQRIL, Pushing Stablecoins Into Global QR Payments

SINGAPORE – January 02, 2026 – Tether, the issuer of the world's largest stablecoin, has made a significant strategic investment into SQRIL, a Southeast Asia-based startup building a real-time payment switch for cross-border QR code transactions. The move signals a major push to integrate digital currencies into the fabric of everyday commerce across the world's fastest-growing economies.

The investment enables SQRIL (pronounced “squirrel”) to accelerate its mission of creating a unified payment network across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The startup’s technology allows users of partnered banking and fintech apps to scan and pay local QR codes in foreign countries using their home currency, a process that has historically been fragmented and costly.

This partnership represents a pivotal moment in the convergence of the cryptocurrency world and mainstream financial services. By backing a company focused on QR code infrastructure, Tether is betting that the future of consumer payments lies not in complex new hardware, but in the simple, ubiquitous square codes that have already transformed commerce in emerging markets.

A Strategic Leap Beyond Crypto Trading

For years, Tether's USDT stablecoin has been a cornerstone of the digital asset economy, primarily serving as a liquid asset for cryptocurrency traders. This investment marks a deliberate and strategic expansion beyond the trading world and into real-world payments, a sector ripe for disruption.

The core of the strategy is to leverage stablecoins as a high-speed, low-cost settlement layer for international transactions. Traditional cross-border payments, often reliant on the SWIFT network, can take days to settle and incur fees ranging from 3% to 7%. By using a blockchain-based stablecoin for the back-end settlement between financial institutions, the time can be cut to minutes or seconds, and costs can be reduced to a fraction of a percent.

Tether's backing provides SQRIL with not only capital but also a powerful tool to enhance its payment rails. While the end-user experience remains simple—scan a QR code and pay in your local currency—the underlying settlement can become dramatically more efficient. This addresses critical challenges in cross-border finance, including liquidity management and the high cost of foreign exchange, positioning the partnership to compete directly with both legacy banking systems and established fintech players like Wise and Remitly.

SQRIL's Vision for a Connected World

SQRIL's platform is built on a simple yet powerful premise: to act as the central nervous system connecting disparate national payment systems. The company provides a payments API switch that financial institutions can integrate directly into their existing mobile applications.

“Any traditional bank such as Barclays or Bank of America, or neobanks such as Venmo, Revolut or Cash app can integrate with our APIs and allow their user base to scan & pay local QR codes across Asia, Africa and Latam,” explained SQRIL Founder & CEO Malcolm Weed. “Users would pay with their home currency, and the merchant in the foreign country would receive their local currency. SQRIL would handle the forex and local payout in the destination currency.”

This model eliminates the need for consumers to download new apps or open foreign accounts when traveling or conducting business abroad. For merchants, it opens up a new world of international customers who can pay using the same local QR code their domestic customers use. The technology is already live for QR payments in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia, with support for bank transfers in Malaysia and Thailand. The company plans an aggressive expansion across its target continents in the first quarter of the year.

“I believe we are at the early stages of instant payment interoperability between banks, ewallets and merchants of different countries, and SQRIL plans to be an important part of that infrastructure,” Weed continued. “With the rise of national QR code schemes, stablecoins and the global movement of people, there needs to be a better way to pay across borders.”

Emerging Markets Lead the Payment Revolution

The partnership between Tether and SQRIL is built on a powerful global trend: the explosion of QR code payments in emerging markets. This phenomenon represents a form of 'reverse innovation,' where technology adopted in the developing world is setting the standard for global implementation.

In the Asia-Pacific region, QR codes are already the dominant form of digital payment. Countries like China and India have seen adoption rates soar above 80% among smartphone users, powered by national systems like India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and super-apps like WeChat Pay and Alipay. Southeast Asia is following suit, with QR transaction volume projected to surge from 13 billion in 2023 to over 90 billion by 2028.

Governments are actively driving this shift. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is pioneering an interoperable QR code payment ecosystem, with five central banks—Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand—signing a memorandum to connect their national systems. Bilateral links, such as between Indonesia and Malaysia, are already operational, demonstrating a political will for deeper regional economic integration through shared payment infrastructure.

“Having worked in crossborder payments for the past thirteen years and spending the past three living in Southeast Asia, I can confidently say that scan-to-pay QR code payments will be universal the world over in the coming years,” Weed explained. “Usually you see developed world technologies making their way to emerging markets, but I really believe this will happen in the reverse.”

Unlocking Economic Growth and Financial Inclusion

The implications of this technology extend far beyond consumer convenience. By creating low-cost, accessible cross-border payment rails, SQRIL and Tether are positioned to have a profound impact on economic development and financial inclusion.

For millions of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in emerging markets, the ability to seamlessly accept payments from foreign tourists and international clients is transformative. It lowers the barrier to entry into global commerce, improves cash flow, and reduces reliance on expensive third-party processors. A street food vendor in Hanoi or a craft-maker in Manila can now tap into the global market using the same simple QR code they use for local sales.

Furthermore, the technology promises to streamline the multi-billion dollar remittance market. Families relying on money sent from abroad can receive funds faster and more cheaply, putting more money in the pockets of those who need it most. By offering a more efficient alternative, these platforms can encourage the use of formal financial channels, which in turn helps individuals build a transaction history, a crucial step toward accessing credit and other financial services.

As SQRIL expands its network with Tether's support, it aims to become a foundational layer for a new era of global commerce. “We are aiming to be the world's QR code infrastructure leader, especially as it relates to emerging markets,” Weed remarked. As these technologies converge, the architecture of global finance is being redrawn, with the promise of a more connected and equitable economic future for emerging markets.