Utexo Raises $7.5M Led by Tether to Launch Native USDT Settlements on Bitcoin
Dubai, UAE, March 6th, 2026, Chainwire
Utexo makes Bitcoin-native stablecoin settlement practical, predictable, and easy to integrate
Utexo now announces the raise of a $7.5M seed round co-led by Tether, Big Brain Holdings, and Portal Ventures, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Maven11 Capital, Fulgur Ventures, Alchemy VC, Ethereal Ventures, Auros Ventures, Arcanum Capital, Paper Ventures, Axia8, FlowTraders, Plan B, Gate Ventures, Sats Ventures and strategic angels including operators from Ledger, Hyperion, BTC Turk, Echo, Legion, and SOLV.
Bitcoin has always been central to Tether’s long-term vision for USDT, but turning that idea into reality required infrastructure that didn’t yet exist. Utexo was founded to build that solution and enable Bitcoin-native stablecoin settlement with robust, production-ready payment rails.
“Bitcoin has always been central to Tether’s long-term vision for USDT,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. “Market cycles come and go, but the need for open and resilient settlement infrastructure remains constant. What has been missing is production-ready infrastructure that makes Bitcoin-native stablecoin settlement viable at scale. Utexo provides that layer. By enabling native USDT settlement directly over Bitcoin and the Lightning Network, with predictable costs and seamless integration, it strengthens Bitcoin’s position as a global settlement rail for real-world dollar transactions. This is about reinforcing open infrastructure and giving businesses a more reliable foundation for moving value worldwide.”
Historically, Lightning Network and RGB have unlocked powerful capabilities on Bitcoin but remained prohibitively complex to deploy and operate in production environments and Utexo’s role is to abstract that complexity away. By providing a single API layer, Utexo enables payment operators to route USDT settlement directly over Bitcoin-native rails without needing to manage the underlying technical trade-offs, rewrite user experiences, or change custody or compliance workflows.
“We built Utexo so that USDT could move on Bitcoin the way money is supposed to move: instantly, privately, with no surprises on costs,” said Chris Hutchinson, Co-founder of Utexo. “Utexo combines Bitcoin, Lightning, and RGB into a usable payment stack. Our partners integrate our API once and can route USDT natively on the most resilient open network ever built, with full control over their cost structure. No existing rail offers this degree of flexibility.”
“For the first time, wallets will be able to offer their users free USDT transactions,” said Viktor Ihnatiuk, Co-founder of Utexo. “Utexo provides a built-in growth flywheel: wallets grow their user base, while USDT bootstraps adoption on Bitcoin. The divorce between the two most important digital assets is finally over. After more than a decade, we’re bringing USDT back home.”
The infrastructure enables native USDT settlement directly on Bitcoin, including the first-ever availability of USDT over the Lightning Network, with fees that are fixed, predictable, and known in advance for every transaction, regardless of network conditions.
Settlement costs are paid in USDT and do not fluctuate with congestion or blockspace demand, while transactions settle atomically and privately, anchored to Bitcoin’s security model and completed in under 1 second.
Unlike public transaction graphs on other networks, Utexo’s approach prioritizes private execution with only encrypted transactions being written on-chain, preventing the disclosure of counterparties’ payment flows and wallet addresses.
This all allows partners to move stablecoin volume without exposure to fee volatility, congestion risk, or the weaker trust assumptions associated with fully public ledgers, bridges, and wrapped assets.
Utexo has designed their infrastructure offerings specifically for payment service providers, exchanges, wallets, high-frequency trading firms, and platforms already moving large volumes of USDT for merchant settlement, payouts, cross-border transfers and global commerce.
Rather than attempting to bootstrap new L2 solutions or chase speculative demand, Utexo’s go-to-market strategy focuses on routing existing USDT flows onto Bitcoin as infrastructure finally catches up with long-standing operational needs. With stablecoins increasingly replacing legacy payment rails worldwide, Utexo makes it possible for Bitcoin to function as a viable settlement layer for dollar-denominated payments, bringing Tether’s long-standing vision for native USDT on Bitcoin into production for the first time.
For more information on Utexo’s Bitcoin-native USDT settlement infrastructure and upcoming integrations, users can visit https://utexo.com/ and follow on X, https://x.com/utexocom
About Utexo
Utexo is a Bitcoin-native execution and settlement layer for stablecoin payments. By combining Lightning Network’s instant execution with RGB’s privacy-preserving asset issuance, Utexo’s API and SDK enable payment operators to process USDT transactions instantly with predictable costs and full and private execution.
About Tether
Tether is the trailblazer in stablecoin technology, committed to fostering a more accessible and efficient financial ecosystem. As the issuer of the most widely used stablecoin, USDT, Tether offers a secure, fast, and low-cost solution for digital asset transactions. Tether is dedicated to transparency, regularly providing assurance opinions on its reserves, and focuses on creating long-term value through strategic investments in technology, infrastructure, and real-world assets.