Tether’s $8M Bet: Speeding Up Payments with Lightning & USDT
5.4 Investments Tether led an $8M investment in Speed, a platform using Bitcoin Lightning Network and stablecoins for instant payments, aiming to expand USDT's real-world utility and strengthen Bitcoin-based financial infrastructure.
Tether has led an $8 million strategic investment in Speed, a payments infrastructure company utilizing the Bitcoin Lightning Network and stablecoins to enable instant, global settlements. Speed processes over $1.5 billion in annual payment volume and serves approximately 1.2 million users and businesses through products like Speed Wallet and Speed Merchant, offering instant payments, native BTC and USDT settlement, and reliable global routing. The investment aims to strengthen Bitcoin-aligned financial infrastructure and expand the real-world utility of USDT, allowing users and merchants to benefit from both the speed of Lightning and the price stability of stablecoins. Speed’s architecture demonstrates how Lightning and stablecoins can operate together at scale, reducing friction for cross-border transactions, creator payouts, merchant payments, and platform-level settlements. Tether’s involvement is expected to enhance Speed’s infrastructure, support global expansion, and reinforce USDT’s presence in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
