Tether’s USDT is set to return to the Bitcoin network this month through Utexo, a Tether-backed Bitcoin payments infrastructure project that has obtained a commercial license to issue the stablecoin on Bitcoin.
The stablecoin, with a market capitalization of nearly $190 billion, originally launched on Bitcoin in 2014 via the Omni protocol. Over time, most activity shifted to Ethereum and Tron, and Tether stopped issuing USDT on Omni in 2023. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino signaled the move on X, writing “It’s coming home.”
Utexo, founded in 2025 and having raised $7.5 million earlier this year, will use the RGB protocol combined with Bitcoin’s UTXO model and client-side validation. Transaction details remain off Bitcoin’s public ledger, with the blockchain used to cryptographically prove ownership. The project lists three main use cases: private USDT transfers, direct native BTC-USDT swaps without an exchange, and Bitcoin-backed loans that do not require wrapping BTC on another blockchain, as with WBTC.
There are privacy-limitation nuances: Utexo cannot freeze UTXOs the way Tether freezes addresses on Ethereum. Instead, it will maintain a blacklist of UTXOs linked to illicit or sanctioned activity and share that list with exchanges and providers, making flagged funds unusable. More than 450 businesses have expressed interest, though formal partnerships have not been confirmed.
Co-founder Viktor Ihnatiuk said, “Tether was always a Bitcoin company. For them, Bitcoin is a haven of stability, alongside gold.” Tether holds around 100,000 BTC, worth about $8.4 billion as of mid-August. After the Bitcoin mainnet launch, Utexo plans to add Lightning Network support, allowing USDT to function as a fee-paying token on Bitcoin’s faster payment layer—similar to how USDC is used on Circle’s Arc network. The initial rollout will test demand for private transfers, BTC-USDT swaps, and Bitcoin-backed lending.
