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Tether Leads $8 Million Round for Speed to Advance Lightning-Based USDT Payments

The investment targets broader USDT utility in everyday transactions by pairing Lightning’s speed with stablecoin settlement.

Overview

  • Ego Death Capital co-led the $8 million raise, according to Tether’s announcement.
  • Speed reports more than $1.5 billion in annual payment volume and about 1.2 million users through its Speed Wallet and Speed Merchant products.
  • The company routes transactions over Bitcoin’s Lightning Network and settles in bitcoin or USDT to lower costs and reduce exposure to price swings.
  • Tether said the funding will support infrastructure scaling and additional integrations with merchants and platforms for Lightning-native payments.
  • Tether framed the move as part of its 2025 push to bring USDT onto Bitcoin rails via efforts such as Taproot Assets, reflecting rising stablecoin activity on Lightning.