Georgia Partners With Tether to Launch Official Lari-Pegged Stablecoin

The Government of Georgia has partnered with Tether, the world’s largest digital asset company, to launch a new stablecoin tied to the national currency, the Georgian Lari. Announced on Monday, the new digital currency, to be ticker-symbolled GEL₮, represents one of the world’s first joint initiatives between a sovereign government and a private digital asset issuer to integrate a national currency directly onto blockchain networks under a specialized stablecoin legal framework, Tether said in a press statement.

The move highlights a growing global shift toward digital asset rails for routine financial operations, including remittances, peer-to-peer payments, and cross-border settlements. By utilizing Tether’s infrastructure—the same network that powers the USD₮ stablecoin, which currently boasts a market capitalization nearing $190 billion—Georgia aims to bypass traditional, slower banking networks. Officials state that GEL₮ will drastically lower transaction costs, facilitate near-instant financial settlement, and introduce programmable payments to support local fintech innovation and regional trade.

The project is the culmination of a multi-year effort by Georgian lawmakers and the National Bank of Georgia to establish a transparent, robust regulatory environment for digital assets. Designed to attract foreign fintech investment, the country’s new stablecoin framework explicitly incorporates strict international standards for reserve management, user redemption rights, issuer oversight, and anti-money laundering compliance. Notably, the legislation was engineered to maintain substantive compatibility with emerging United States digital asset regulations, including the GENIUS Act, positioning Georgia for direct regulatory interoperability with Western financial systems.

Georgian leadership expressed strong optimism about the economic implications of the partnership. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze noted that the country is actively laying the groundwork for a more connected and transparent financial ecosystem, while Parliament Member Vakhtang Turnava highlighted Georgia’s potential to serve as a strategic bridge between traditional finance and the future digital economy. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino praised the jurisdiction’s regulatory clarity, stating that clear legal frameworks are essential for stablecoins to successfully transition from niche financial instruments into mainstream infrastructure layers for global finance.

The initiative builds upon Georgia’s existing crypto-friendly ecosystem, which already permits citizens to settle tax obligations by instantly converting digital assets into the local currency. According to Natia Turnava, President of the National Bank of Georgia, collaborating with global innovators like Tether aligns directly with the central bank’s broader strategy to modernize secure, internationally compliant financial infrastructure. Georgian officials confirmed that further details regarding the specific reserve structure, operational rollout phases, and regulatory implementation of GEL₮ will be disclosed at a later date.