Tether Leads $8 Million Investment in Speed to Scale Lightning-Native Payments
In a major move to bridge the gap between volatile crypto assets and mainstream commerce, Tether announced on Tuesday, December 16, 2025, that it has led an $8 million strategic investment in Speed1, Inc. (“Speed”). The funding round, co-led by ego death capital, is designed to accelerate the development of a global payments infrastructure that combines the instant settlement of the BTC Lightning Network with the price stability of the USDT stablecoin. This partnership underscores Tether’s commitment to building real-world financial rails that move beyond speculative trading and into the realm of everyday global transactions.
Scaling Real-World Utility via “Speed Wallet” and “Speed Merchant”
Speed is positioning itself as a foundational layer for the “on-chain economy” by offering tools that serve consumers, creators, and enterprise-level businesses. The company already processes over $1.5 billion in annual payment volume and serves a user base of roughly 1.2 million individuals and businesses. Its infrastructure has been battle-tested by enterprise brands like Steak ‘n Shake, which reported a 50% reduction in payment processing fees later than integrating Speed’s BTC and stablecoin payment flows.
The platform’s core products—Speed Wallet and Speed Merchant—allow users to move money globally in milliseconds. By leveraging the Lightning Network, Speed eliminates the high fees and long confirmation times often associated with on-chain BTC transactions. Crucially, the platform enables native USDT settlement, allowing merchants to accept payments in BTC while receiving the funds in stablecoins to avoid market volatility. This “hybrid” architecture is viewn as a vital step for adoption in emerging markets, where the need for high-speed remittances and stable digital dollar access is most acute.
Tether’s Broader Strategy: Moving Beyond Speculation
Tether’s investment in Speed is part of a massive diversification effort funded by its recent record-breaking profits—over $10 billion in the first nine months of 2025 alone. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino highlighted that the partnership signals that BTC-rooted networks are finally ready for mainstream commerce. “Speed is showing what Lightning can achieve when paired with a stable, liquid digital dollar like USDT,” Ardoino stated, emphasizing that the focus is on “practical infrastructure” that reduces friction for billions of people who lack access to traditional banking.
This deal follows a string of high-profile moves by Tether to strengthen the BTC ecosystem, including a recent strategic investment in Ledn for BTC-backed lending and the launch of the Hadron asset tokenization platform. By backing Speed, Tether is effectively creating a new distribution channel for USDT, ensuring that its stablecoin remains the dominant “liquid dollar” within the growing ecosystem of Layer-2 BTC applications. As the Lightning Network hits record capacity in late 2025, Tether’s involvement provides the institutional capital and liquidity necessary to turn these “settlement rails” into a global standard for 24/7 commerce.
