- Hyundai Motor America converted US$20,000 (AU$28,800) into Tether’s USDT and sent it over Avalanche to Hyundai Motor Mexico, where it was converted back to dollars in about seven minutes.
- Conventional bank transfers on the corridor take three to four hours, according to the companies; Hyundai Card coordinated the accounting, tax, legal and internal-control review.
- A second pilot is planned for late July among Hyundai’s European subsidiaries, with Circle and Visa joining and USDC plus local-currency transfers to be tested.
Hyundai Motor’s American and Mexican units completed a pilot cross-border treasury payment using Tether’s USDT on the Avalanche blockchain, settling a US$20,000 (AU$28,800) transfer in about seven minutes, the companies said on July 9.
Hyundai Motor America converted the funds into USDT, transferred them on Avalanche to Hyundai Motor Mexico, and converted them back into US dollars at the other end. A conventional interbank transfer on the same corridor takes roughly three to four hours, according to the announcement.
The proof of concept brought together Hyundai Card, which designed the remittance structure and coordinated the accounting, tax, legal and internal-control review across the subsidiaries, alongside Tether as the stablecoin issuer, Ava Labs as the blockchain provider and payments infrastructure firm Axiym.
The pilot tested whether stablecoin settlement can slot into existing corporate treasury operations without changing governance, compliance or accounting processes.
Hyundai Card stressed that the test used real funds tied to an actual intercompany settlement need between Hyundai’s overseas entities, and described it as the first stablecoin cross-border transfer proof of concept by a Korean card company.
Europe Pilot Comes Next
A second proof of concept is planned for later in July among Hyundai Motor’s European subsidiaries. Circle and Visa will join that round, which will test Circle’s USDC stablecoin and local-currency transfers beyond the dollar-based leg.
The companies will assess potential currency-conversion savings across additional payment corridors as they evaluate broader enterprise treasury workflows.
The completed pilot ran on Tether’s USDT, the largest stablecoin by market value in a sector that reportedly hit a record US$280 billion (AU$403 billion), with Tether and Circle dominating issuance.
Corporate stablecoin pilots have been building through 2026. Crypto News Australia has also covered Visa’s own stablecoin settlement pilot for cross-border payouts and tests by DoorDash and Meta of stablecoin-powered global payouts, a wave Hyundai’s treasury trial now joins from the automotive side.
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