The leading stablecoin company Tether is investing $8 million in Speed, a payments infrastructure firm.

The funding round, led by Tether with participation from Ego Death Capital, aims to advance stablecoin payments on Lightning – a network built on top of Bitcoin to power instant and cheap transactions.

The goal is to enable efficient payments with native Bitcoin and Tether’s USDT stablecoin.

Speed processes over $1.5 billion in annual payment volume across consumers, creators, platforms, and enterprise merchants.

Its products, Speed Wallet and Speed Merchant, serve 1.2 million users and businesses.

Says Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino,

“Speed is showing what Lightning can achieve when paired with a stable, liquid digital dollar like USDT.

We support teams building practical infrastructure that reduces friction in payments and expands access to reliable settlement rails. Speed’s execution and adoption signal that Bitcoin-rooted networks are ready for mainstream commerce.”

Tether first announced its bringing USDT to Bitcoin back in January, through a partnership with Lightning Labs