Tether leads $8 million investment in Speed to push USDT further into everyday payments

Finance

Share

Share this article

Copy linkX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmail

Tether leads $8 million investment in Speed to push USDT further into everyday payments


Using the Bitcoin's Lightning Network and Tether's USDT, Speed handles $1.5 billion in annual payments and serves 1.2 million users.

By Francisco Rodrigues, AI Boost|Edited by Stephen Alpher

Dec 16, 2025, 4:17 p.m.

Tether (CoinDesk)

What to know:

• Tether invested $8 million in Speed, a payments company that combines Bitcoin's Lightning Network with stablecoin settlement.
• Speed handles $1.5 billion in annual payments and serves 1.2 million users, using Lightning and USDT .
• The investment supports Tether's efforts to expand USDT's use cases and strengthen Bitcoin-aligned infrastructure, with CEO Paolo Ardoino highlighting the potential of Lightning and stablecoins.

Stablecoin giant Tether led an $8 million strategic investment in Speed, a payments infrastructure company that blends Bitcoin’s Lightning Network with stablecoin settlement to move money in real time.

Speed processes more than $1.5 billion in annual payment volume and serves about 1.2 million users and businesses through its wallet and merchant products, Tether said in a press release.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW

Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters

Sign me up

By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Speed’s system routes payments over Lightning for its quickness, while allowing settlement in USDT for users who want predictable values.

Tether said the investment supports its effort to strengthen Bitcoin-aligned financial infrastructure and expand how USDT is used outside of trading. CEO Paolo Ardoino described Speed as evidence that Lightning networks can handle real commerce when paired with a stable digital dollar.

“Crypto has lived in the world of speculation for too long," Speed CEO Niraj Patel said. "Speed is making it usable — instantly, globally, and at scale. Lightning gives us speed; stablecoins give us universal access; our infrastructure brings it all together for consumers, creators, and merchants."

The deal comes as Tether continues to use its large profits to aggressively invest across a variety of industries. Among these are a majority stake in Latin American agricultural firm Adecoagro (AGRO), a privacy-focused health app, a stake in video-sharing platform Rumble (RUM).

The company reported more than $10 billion in profit during the first nine months of the year, driven largely by interest on U.S. Treasury holdings that back USDT.

TetherLightningUSDTpayments

AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.

More For You

Protocol Research: GoPlus Security

By CoinDesk Research

Nov 14, 2025

Commissioned byGoPlus

What to know:

• As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
• GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
• Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.

View Full Report

More For You

Most Influential: Peter Schiff

By James Van Straten|Edited by Cheyenne Ligon

1 hour ago

Peter Schiff, the outspoken gold advocate and notorious bitcoin critic, has been vindicated by the market’s performance, cementing his stance after years of skepticism towards digital assets.

Read full story

Latest Crypto News

U.S. FDIC proposes first U.S. stablecoin rule to emerge from GENIUS Act

16 minutes ago

Bitcoin bounces from Monday's worst levels, but sub-$80,000 may come next, analyst says

51 minutes ago

CoreWeave collapse sparks fears of cracks in AI infrastructure boom

1 hour ago

Brazil to test blockchain in state real estate auction to reduce fraud, disputes

1 hour ago

Most Influential: Peter Schiff

1 hour ago

Most Influential: Jerome Powell

1 hour ago

Top Stories

Bitcoin bounces from Monday's worst levels, but sub-$80,000 may come next, analyst says

51 minutes ago

U.S. added 64,000 jobs in November, with unemployment rate jumping to four-year high of 4.6%

3 hours ago

U.S. FDIC proposes first U.S. stablecoin rule to emerge from GENIUS Act

16 minutes ago

Bulls beware — BofA Fund Manager Survey flashing contrarian sell signal

1 hour ago

Visa brings Circle's USDC settlement to U.S. banks following $3.5 billion stablecoin pilot

4 hours ago

KindlyMD faces Nasdaq delisting risk after failing to meet minimum share price levels

6 hours ago