UAE Utexo raises $7.5 million from Tether to settle USDT on Bitcoin network
UAE based Utexo, which makes Bitcoin-native stablecoin settlement practical, predictable, and easy to integrate has announced that it has raised $7.5 million seed round to build USDT stablecoin payments on Bitcoin network. The funding round was co led by Tether, Big Brain Holdings, 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.
According to the press release, Utexo was founded to build that solution and enable Bitcoin-native stablecoin settlement with robust, production-ready payment rails.
CEO of Tether, Paolo Ardoino, Bitcoin has always been central to Tether’s long term vision for USDT. He explains, ” 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.”
UTEXO will make it easy to deploy and operate in production environments as the company provides a single API layer which enables payment operators to route USDT settlement directly over Bitcoin native rails. This means there is no need to manage the underlying technical trade-offs, or rewrite user experiences, or even 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.”
How does Utexo offer USDT settlement on Bitcoin
The Utexo infrastructure enable native USDT settlement directly on Bitcoin, as well as Lightening network. The fees are fixed and predictable regardless of network conditions.
All settlement costs are paid in USDT, while transactions are settled atomically and privately, anchored to Bitcoin’s security models 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.
The company designed their infrastructure offerings specifically to cater 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.
