USDT is the world's most-used stablecoin, but until recently it has lived almost entirely on chains that are not Bitcoin. Utexo, founded in 2025 in the UAE by Chris Hutchinson and Viktor Ihnatiuk, is changing that. The company provides enterprise infrastructure that lets financial institutions, wallets and exchanges process USDT payments natively on Bitcoin, using the Lightning Network and the RGB protocol as the underlying rails. Their $7.5M seed round, led by Tether itself, signals just how strategic that bet is.

The product is designed for serious operators rather than retail users. Banks, fintechs, exchanges and remittance companies plug into Utexo to issue, receive and settle USDT directly on Bitcoin, with the speed of Lightning and the asset issuance flexibility of RGB. That means dollar-denominated payments that finalize in seconds, settle on the most secure base layer in existence, and avoid the fragmentation and bridging risk of the current multi-chain stablecoin landscape.

At Fulgur, we have long argued that Bitcoin should and will be the default settlement layer for digital dollars. Stablecoins are not a threat to Bitcoin — they are an enormous source of demand for Bitcoin's blockspace and Lightning capacity, when routed correctly. Utexo is the team turning that thesis into shipping infrastructure with the most strategically aligned anchor partner in the stablecoin world.

With Tether leading the seed and Fulgur joining alongside, Utexo has the relationships, the rails and the runway to make Bitcoin-native USDT a default option for serious institutions. We are thrilled to support Chris, Viktor and the team as they bring stablecoin settlement back to where it belongs.