UAE’s Utexo Secures $7.5M Seed in Tether-Led Round - Crypto Economy

TL;DR:

• Utexo, a blockchain infrastructure startup based in the UAE, raised $7.5 million in a seed round led by Tether.
• The platform enables native USDT settlements on Bitcoin and the Lightning Network in under one second, with fixed fees paid in USDT.
• Round participants include Franklin Templeton, Maven11 Capital, Fulgur Ventures, Portal Ventures and Big Brain Holdings, among others.

Utexo is a blockchain infrastructure startup founded in the United Arab Emirates that has just closed a seed round of $7.5 million to build USDT payment rails directly on the Bitcoin network. The round was led by Tether and included participation from Big Brain Holdings, Portal Ventures, Franklin Templeton, Maven11 Capital, Fulgur Ventures, Alchemy VC, Ethereal Ventures, FlowTraders and a series of strategic funds and investors.

The company was founded in 2025 by Chris Hutchinson and Viktor Ihnatiuk with the goal of making native stablecoin settlement on Bitcoin viable at scale. Its infrastructure combines the Lightning and RGB protocols — a smart contract layer on Bitcoin — to process USDT transactions in under one second with fixed, predictable fees that are independent of network conditions.


Utexo: A Payment Rail Where None Existed

Utexo’s core product is a single API layer that allows payment operators to route USDT settlements over native Bitcoin rails without modifying their internal systems, custody flows or compliance procedures. Unlike other networks where transaction graphs are public, Utexo‘s architecture prioritizes private execution: only encrypted transactions are recorded on-chain, preventing exposure of the parties involved and their payment flows.

Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, noted that what had been missing until now was production-ready infrastructure to make stablecoin settlements on Bitcoin at scale possible. “Utexo provides that layer,” he stated, highlighting that this solution strengthens Bitcoin’s position as a global settlement rail for dollar-denominated transactions.


The Return of USDT to Bitcoin

The solution is specifically aimed at exchanges, digital wallets, payment service providers and high-volume trading firms. “For the first time, wallets will be able to offer their users free USDT transactions,” said Viktor Ihnatiuk, co-founder of the company. For his part, Chris Hutchinson emphasized that partners only need to integrate the API once to route USDT natively over the most resilient network ever built, while maintaining full control over their cost structure.

With the capital raised, Utexo plans to expand its infrastructure beyond the United Arab Emirates and accelerate the adoption of its services among financial institutions and global payment platforms.