Tether, Pave Bank, and GFTN Launch a Five-Year Georgia-Singapore Fintech Scholars Programme

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• Tether, Pave Bank, and GFTN signed an MOU to launch the Georgia-Singapore Fintech Scholars Programme, a five-year educational exchange
• Selected undergraduates from Tbilisi State University will spend a semester studying fintech at Singapore Management University, starting January 2027
• The agreement explicitly involves no immediate product or token issuance, framed instead as an academic and talent-development commitment

Stablecoin issuer Tether, digital-native lender Pave Bank, and cross-border fintech organization GFTN signed a memorandum of understanding to launch the Georgia-Singapore Fintech Scholars Programme, according to GFTN’s announcement. The programme is a five-year educational exchange set to begin in January 2027, described by the organizers as the first institutional higher-education exchange and privately funded fintech scholarship connecting Georgia and Singapore.

Under the programme, selected undergraduates from Tbilisi State University in Georgia will travel to Singapore Management University for a semester of fintech-focused coursework. Scholars will be chosen through a selection process run jointly by the three partner organizations, rather than by any single party acting alone.

Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, is funding the scholarships as part of a broader strategy to diversify its activities beyond stablecoin issuance, with the company represented in the agreement by chairman Giancarlo Devasini. Pave Bank, a digital-native bank holding a banking license in Georgia that raised a Series A funding round in 2025, is the second signatory. GFTN, led by chief executive Sopnendu Mohanty, formerly the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s chief fintech officer, will be involved in scholar selection and program administration.

The organizers were explicit that the agreement involves no immediate product launch or token issuance, positioning it instead as a longer-term, education-focused commitment. A five-year timeline tied to academic infrastructure at two named universities gives the programme a different shape from the product announcements and partnership MOUs that typically dominate stablecoin issuers’ news cycles.

The programme adds an education and talent-development angle to Tether’s broader push into diversified financial infrastructure, following the company’s other recent forays into banking, commodities, and other non-stablecoin business lines. GFTN said further details on the scholar application and selection process will be released ahead of the programme’s January 2027 start.

Pave Bank’s own footprint gives the programme a direct operating link to Georgia beyond Tether’s funding role: the digital-native lender holds a Georgian banking license and raised a Series A funding round in 2025 to build out its programmable banking platform. GFTN, meanwhile, brings a regulatory pedigree to the selection process through chief executive Sopnendu Mohanty, who spent years as the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s chief fintech officer before joining the organization.