Bit2Me’s Abel Peña on Tether’s Investment, Regulatory Breakthroughs and Banking Ambitions

Tether stake

Tether, issuer of the USDT stablecoin, has acquired a minority stake in Bit2Me and is leading a €30mn ($35mn) financing round, said Peña, who is chief sales officer and partner at the Madrid-based crypto exchange. Speaking at Korea Blockchain Week in late September, he described Tether as “the most prominent and most important” company in crypto, with more than $170bn in stablecoins outstanding and volumes on centralized exchanges largely driven by USDT pairs. 

The strategic backing, he said, gives Bit2Me both the credibility and agility to pursue partnerships that would otherwise be harder to secure. Peña framed Bit2Me’s development as a steady move from retail exchange to regulated institutional partner. 

The company recently became the first Spanish-speaking exchange to obtain a licence under the EU’s Markets in CryptoAssets (MiCAR) framework. Bit2Me’s management had anticipated the regulation years in advance, investing early in know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) procedures so it would have “a perfect history” when the legislation arrived, according to Peña.

MiCAR licenses 

Only a handful of banks hold MiCAR licences, and none are crypto asset service providers. He said Bit2Me plans to passport its authorization across the bloc and enter an acquisition phase in multiple EU markets.

Education and trust were recurring themes behind Bit2Me’s success and vision: Peña noted that Bit2Me created a free, Spanish language crypto academy more than a decade ago to fill a content void in Latin America and to grow its userbase across the region. 

“Spain only has around 50 million citizens. But in Latin America there are half a billion Spanish speakers. At the early stages, it was hard to find quality content in the region in Spanish, so we positioned ourselves over there to have a society with more knowledge of crypto.”

The site now has millions of users across South and Central America, where high inflation and currency instability make stablecoins attractive. Peña said people in Latin America often “on-ramp” into USDT simply to preserve purchasing power. In Europe, by contrast, demand is driven more by investment returns.

Transparency, user IDs

Peña argued that Bit2Me’s long-term commitment to transparency differentiates it from larger rivals like Binance and Coinbase. The company insisted on user identification even when not required by law, believing customers deserve to know where their assets are held. 

The Madrid firm’s growth strategy hinges on three pillars: retail traders, corporate clients and institutions. Retail signups continue to rise, while corporate business is expanding. Existing MiCA Regulation allows banks to offer crypto services, and Bit2Me is already supplying execution and liquidity for several lenders. 

For investors watching Europe’s evolving regulatory landscape, Bit2Me offers a case study of how regional players can use cultural affinity to align with global giants while staying compliant.