Utexo, a startup developing infrastructure for stablecoin settlements on Bitcoin, announced a $7.5 million seed round on March 6, 2026. The round received co-lead investments from Tether, Big Brain Holdings, and Portal Ventures.
Company Overview
Utexo focuses on enabling USDT transactions directly on the Bitcoin network, leveraging the Lightning Network for speed and the RGB protocol for asset handling. Its system targets payment service providers, custodians, exchanges, and wallets through a unified API and SDK. The company states this setup supports atomic settlements with fixed fees paid in USDT, operating under one second and using Bitcoin’s base layer for finality.
Investor Participation
Tether, the issuer of USDT, co-led the round alongside Big Brain Holdings and Portal Ventures. Additional backers include Franklin Templeton, Maven 11 Capital, Alchemy, Ethereal Ventures, Auros, Sats Ventures, Gate Ventures, Arcanum Capital, KuCoin Ventures, Paper Ventures, Axia8 Ventures, and Flow Traders. Strategic angels come from Ledger, Solv Protocol, BtcTurk, Echo, Legion, and Hyperion Fintech AG.
Tether’s involvement aligns with comments from CEO Paolo Ardoino, who described Bitcoin as central to USDT’s strategy, with Utexo filling a technical gap. Big Brain Holdings and Portal Ventures focus on early-stage blockchain infrastructure, though specific prior Utexo investments remain unlisted publicly.
Funding Details and Use
The seed round proceeds will support production deployment of Utexo’s Bitcoin-native USDT settlement tools. Utexo co-founder Chris Hutchinson stated the funds enable scaling of an API that handles Lightning Network execution and RGB-based assets without requiring partners to alter custody or compliance setups.
Market Context
Bitcoin infrastructure funding has ticked upward in early 2026 amid stablecoin expansion beyond Ethereum. Comparable seed rounds include projects building Layer 2 scaling or payment rails, such as a $6 million raise by a Lightning-focused firm in late 2025. Stablecoin settlement volumes on Bitcoin remain small versus Ethereum’s dominance, but Tether’s push signals interest in diversifying rails.
Overall crypto venture activity slowed from 2025 peaks, with seed-stage deals averaging under $10 million. Still, developments like Utexo’s funding round continue to appear in web3 fundraising updates, highlighting selective institutional interest in Bitcoin-native infrastructure projects.
