Cryptocurrency infrastructure startup Utexo raised $7.5 million in investment to develop a local payment infrastructure that will enable stablecoin USDT transfer on the Bitcoin network. The investment round was led by stablecoin Tether, Big Brain Holdings and Portal Ventures. The round included leading investors such as Franklin Templeton, Maven11 Capital, Fulgur Ventures, as well as strategic investors including industry names such as Ledger and BTC Turk.
Local USDT Transfer on Bitcoin
Utexo was founded to solve a long-standing problem in the crypto ecosystem. The company aims to provide a payment infrastructure that allows USDT to be transferred smoothly and in accordance with the production stage on the Bitcoin network. In this context, it is aimed to make dollar-based payments directly through this network by using the security of Bitcoin.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated that Bitcoin plays a key role in the company’s USDT vision. Ardoino emphasized that market cycles may change, but the need for an open and resilient payment infrastructure does not, and stated that the solution offered by Utexo transforms Bitcoin into a more powerful payment infrastructure for real-world dollar transactions.
Technical Infrastructure and Functionality
Bitcoin-based payments are technically already possible with the Lightning Network and RGB protocols, but the complexity of these technologies makes widespread use difficult. Utexo facilitates these technical details through a single API. Thus, payment operators can transfer USDT on Bitcoin’s own network without the need for changes to existing custody and compliance processes.
Chris Hutchinson, co-founder of the company, stated that Utexo ensures that USDT transactions occur quickly, confidentially and in a predictable manner. Hutchinson added that once the partners integrated into the system set up an API, they can direct USDT as they wish on Bitcoin, one of the most resilient open networks.
Another co-founder, Viktor Ihnatiuk, noted that the infrastructure they developed provides free USDT transfer to wallets and contributes to the wider use of Bitcoin-supported stablecoins.
Privacy and Audience
The established infrastructure offers predictable transaction fees and privacy-protected transaction infrastructure for every transaction. All transactions take place with USDT and are completed in less than a second, supported by Bitcoin’s security model. By encrypting all transfers on the network, recipient and sender information is kept confidential. Thus, it differs from the open transaction graphs of networks other than Bitcoin.
Utexo’s solution is designed for crypto exchanges, wallet providers, payment service companies and other institutions that handle high volumes of USDT traffic. The aim is to provide a more robust and predictable ecosystem by moving existing USDT transfers directly to the Bitcoin network instead of speculative layer-2 solutions.
