Anchorage Positions Itself as Custody Backbone of US-Mexico Stablecoin Corridor

The arrangement between Anchorage Digital and Bitso has expanded, positioning Anchorage Digital Bank's custody services across both sides of the US-Mexico remittance channel.

This agreement focuses on the US-Mexico remittance corridor, which is among the largest globally, moving amounts amounting to tens of billions annually. This development contributes to a larger competition within Latin America regarding stablecoins, following Circle's recent settlement pilot in Colombia.

Anchorage Digital is establishing itself at the core of one of the world's most substantial money transfer pathways by extending a custody and listing arrangement with the Latin American crypto platform, Bitso, to manage the stablecoins exchanged between Mexico and the United States. The deal, which was announced on Tuesday, places the custody services of Anchorage Digital Bank on both sides of this corridor.

MXNB, the Mexican peso stablecoin offered by Bitso, is now held in custody by the federally chartered crypto bank across six different blockchains: Polygon, Avalanche, Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, and Arc. Conversely, Bitso has listed USDPT and USAT, which are U.S. dollar stablecoins issued and held in custody by Anchorage, originating from Tether and Western Union, respectively. The specific financial details of these companies were not made public.

A significant portion of the funds within this corridor still travel through correspondent banking, cash-pickup networks, and wire transfers, which are characterized by being slow and expensive; however, approximately 15% of this volume already utilizes the infrastructure provided by Bitso.

Nathan McCauley, the co-founder and CEO of Anchorage, stated that the firm is now "the institutional custody layer on both sides of that flow," asserting that stablecoins, which settle onchain constantly in seconds, are set to increasingly supersede those older transfer systems, and that this transition necessitates custody that is regulated and situated where the liquidity resides.

Ben Reid, who heads stablecoins at Bitso, mentioned that clients can now utilize the complete dollar-peso corridor entirely onchain, with the backing of a federally chartered bank. This action extends the ongoing effort to integrate stablecoins into Latin America's payment systems. Circle recently deepened its presence in the area through a USDC settlement pilot in Colombia, as stablecoins gain broader acceptance across numerous emerging markets.

For Anchorage, this agreement enhances its growing presence in the stablecoin space. The bank itself issues the USAT stablecoin, which is regulated in the U.S. by Tether, while Bitso has been promoting its MXNB peso coin across networks such as Arbitrum. By securing both endpoints of this corridor, Anchorage intends to become the default custodian for any bank or issuer that wishes to enter this route.