NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 11 – Digital lender Tala is expanding its embedded lending business through partnerships with cryptocurrency wallet providers El Dorado and Airtm, allowing customers in selected Latin American markets to access loans directly through digital wallets.
The partnerships will see Tala provide the lending capital and credit assessment technology, while the wallet providers offer distribution channels to customers who may have limited access to conventional banking services.
The move marks a shift towards integrating credit services into existing digital financial platforms rather than requiring customers to access loans through standalone lending applications.
Under the partnership with El Dorado, a digital wallet used across Latin America to buy, send and manage Tether (USDT), customers will access Tala-underwritten loans directly within the application.
The service will initially launch in Bolivia before expanding to other Latin American markets, with loans disbursed and repaid in USDT through the Tempo blockchain.
Eligible customers will receive pre-qualified credit offers within their wallets and can select borrowing amounts, repayment periods and dates based on their needs.
Tala has also partnered with Airtm to provide loans in USD Coin (USDC), with Guatemala set to become the first market when the service goes live in the Airtm wallet next month.
The Airtm integration will use customer verification data and behavioural signals to generate credit offers in real time, without relying exclusively on traditional credit bureau scores.
Tala founder and Chief Executive Officer Shivani Siroya said embedding lending services into existing financial platforms would reduce the barriers customers face when seeking credit.
“Access shouldn’t be something people have to seek out. It should come through the platforms they already trust,” said Siroya.
She said the partnerships would allow digital platforms to offer credit without having to independently develop lending infrastructure and underwriting capabilities.
Tala, which has spent more than a decade developing alternative credit assessment systems, uses artificial intelligence, behavioural information and other financial signals to assess borrowers who may not qualify under conventional lending models.
The expansion comes as stablecoins gain traction as alternative payment and settlement instruments, particularly in emerging markets where access to international financial services remains uneven.
However, the use of stablecoin-denominated loans also introduces risks associated with digital assets, including regulatory uncertainty, wallet security and potential exposure to fluctuations in the value of assets used for repayment.
