- Stablecoin giant Tether announced a significant investment in Speed1, Inc., the company behind the Speed payments network.
- The infrastructure leverages the Bitcoin (BTC) Lightning Network and stablecoins for its settlement rails.
Tether Leads Strategic Investment in Speed
According to the company’s announcement on Tuesday, it led the $8 million funding round of Speed. USDT’s issuer made a significant fund injection into the platform through its investment arm, Tether Investments, together with ego death capital, a venture capital fund.
Speed handles over $1.5 billion in annual payment volume. In addition to regular consumers, it focuses on providing payment services to creators, digital platforms, and enterprise merchants. Its main products include Speed Wallet and Speed Merchant.
A Big Boost for USDT
Tether aims to strengthen its Bitcoin-aligned financial infrastructure by backing up Speed. It also expects to expand the utility of the USDT stablecoin in real-world payments through this connection.
Speed’s Lightning-native platform will enable Tether to scale and improve the speed and efficiency of its stablecoin rails. Moreover, it will allow the world’s largest stablecoin issuer to expand the USDT’s global reach to the payment network’s 1.2 million users, while piggybacking on its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)-compliant platform.
Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, stated that the pairing of Speed and USDT paves the way for a substantial reduction in payment friction. It demonstrates that Bitcoin-rooted networks are ready for mass adoption in mainstream commerce.
Meanwhile, Niraj Patel, CEO of Speed1, said their platform enables cryptocurrencies to move beyond their traditionally speculative nature and become assets with broad utility. The Lightning Network accelerates transactions, while stablecoins unlock their universal access. Speed consolidates them into an infrastructure for their seamless use.
Tether’s Failure in Juventus Bid
The strategic investment in Speed comes hot on the heels of Tether’s failed bid to acquire a controlling stake in Juventus, an Italian football club. Exor, the organization’s majority owner, revealed that its board of directors rejected the offer.
Tether held a 10.7% stake in Juventus as of October, making it the club’s second-largest shareholder. On the other hand, the Agnelli family-linked investment company Exor has maintained a 65% controlling stake in the company. The stablecoin giant earlier wanted to acquire all of Exor’s shares to solidify its grip on the Italian football club.
Exor and the Agnelli family responded that they have no intention of relinquishing control of Juventus to a third party. They highlighted that their more than a century-long commitment to the club far exceeds financial returns.
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