Utexo Raises ₱443.21 million ($7.5 million) for Bitcoin USDT Settlement Under One Second

Tether co-led a ₱443.21 million ($7.5 million) seed round for Utexo, a startup building infrastructure to settle USDT on Bitcoin's network in under one second. The round was co-led by Big Brain Holdings and Portal Ventures, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Maven11 Capital, Fulgur Ventures, and a dozen other firms. Strategic angels from Ledger, Hyperion, BTC Turk, and SOLV also joined.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the need for open and resilient settlement infrastructure remains constant regardless of market cycles. Utexo abstracts complexity from Lightning Network and RGB protocols through a single API layer. Exchanges, wallets, and payment providers can integrate once and route USDT with predictable fees that don't spike during network congestion.

Utexo Co-founder Chris Hutchinson said USDT should move on Bitcoin instantly and privately with no surprises on costs, giving partners full control over their cost structure. The platform encrypts on-chain transactions to prevent disclosure of counterparty and wallet addresses. Settlement happens in USDT anchored to Bitcoin's security model without requiring modifications to custody, compliance workflows, or user experiences.

Utexo Co-founder Viktor Ihnatiuk said the infrastructure lets wallets offer free USDT transactions while boosting adoption of Bitcoin-native stablecoins. Ardoino said Bitcoin has been central to Tether's long-term vision for USDT, with the stablecoin issuer open-sourcing MiningOS, its modular operating system for bitcoin mining, at the Plan ₿ Forum in San Salvador in February 2026.