Utexo, a startup building Bitcoin-native stablecoin infrastructure, has secured $7.5 million in seed funding. The startup is focused on USDT settlement directly on the Bitcoin network using production-grade payment rails for use on exchanges, wallets, and financial platforms.
The funding round saw Tether, Big Brain Holdings, and Portal Ventures co-lead the investment round, with other institutional and venture capital investors also contributing to the round.
The participants included Franklin Templeton, Maven11 Capital, Fulgur Ventures, Alchemy VC, and Ethereal Ventures. Other investors included Auros Ventures, Arcanum Capital, Paper Ventures, Axia8, FlowTraders, Plan B, Gate Ventures, and Sats Ventures.
The strategic angel investors also participated in the round. These investors include those associated with Ledger, Hyperion, BTC Turk, Echo, Legion, and SOLV.
The company, Utexo, stated that the project is being developed to fill a gap in the crypto space. The company aims to allow USDT to settle natively on the Bitcoin network.
The platform is focused on creating payment rails for the transfer of stablecoins on a large scale. The payment rails are for production environments and for providers of financial services.
Utexo Builds Simpler Payment Rails for USDT on Bitcoin
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said that the company’s long-term plan for the stablecoin issuer still relies on Bitcoin. He noted that the need for reliable settlement infrastructure continues regardless of market cycles.
Ardoino stated that Utexo puts a layer on top of the Bitcoin-based USDT settlement, and it’s good for strengthening the role of Bitcoin as a settlement network for dollar-denominated transactions.
Payment technologies such as the Lightning Network and RGB, which support Bitcoin, have already been developed. However, they have not been widely adopted by production systems due to their complexity.
Utexo is seeking to simplify this process. They have created a single API layer that abstracts all these technical components.
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Payment operators can integrate this API once, which will then enable USDT payments via Bitcoin-native rails without requiring changes to custody systems, compliance systems, or user interfaces.
Platform Supports Fast USDT Settlement
Chris Hutchinson, the co-founder of Utexo, explained about the goal of the platform. According to Hutchinson, the platform enables the movement of USDT on the Bitcoin network quickly and at a predictable cost.
The company noted that the system allows partners to connect through a single integration to the network. This allows the operators to control the cost of the transactions while utilizing the Bitcoin network.
The company’s co-founder, Viktor Ihnatiuk, noted that the system could potentially provide wallets with the option to make USDT transactions for free. The system could also facilitate the growth of Bitcoin-based stablecoins.
The system enables atomic settlement and the execution of private transactions. Each transaction also includes predictable fees.
The system settles the transactions in USDT, secured through the Bitcoin model. The transactions also settle in less than one second.
The company noted that the system encrypts all the on-chain transactions. This prevents the disclosure of the counterparties and the wallet addresses involved in the transactions.
Tether Expands Bitcoin Ecosystem with MiningOS Launch
The system is unique from the traditional Bitcoin transaction graph found in the blockchain system. The system focuses on the aspect of privacy while ensuring the security of the Bitcoin system.
The project aligns with the activities of Tether within the Bitcoin system. The stablecoin issuer has been expanding various Bitcoin-based initiatives in the recent past.
Tether open-sourced its MiningOS, also known as MOS, in February. This system is intended to manage Bitcoin mining activities.
MOS gives users a single platform to manage all their mining equipment, energy, and site infrastructure. The system has a peer-to-peer architecture.
Source: Tether
This system, according to the company, minimizes the need to use other mining software. This was announced at the 2026 Plan ₿ Forum, which was held in San Salvador.
Utexo is targeting exchanges, payment services, wallets, and high-frequency trading services. These services currently process large volumes of USDT.
The company says it is not building a new layer-two protocol that is speculative. Instead, it is looking to utilize existing stablecoin flows via Bitcoin-based settlement infrastructure.
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