Overview
- Tether and UTEXO announced in early July 2026 that they expect a commercial rollout of Bitcoin-native USDT within weeks using RGB protocol v0.11.1.
- UTEXO, a Tether-backed startup that raised $7.5 million in March 2026, will operate as the issuer and distributor and has published APIs, SDKs and a live mint bridge to support the launch.
- RGB v0.11.1 keeps most token data off-chain and anchors transfers to Bitcoin UTXOs with single-use seals so receiving wallets validate history locally rather than relying on global token ledgers.
- The design routes USDT payments over the Lightning Network for near-instant, low-cost settlement, but real-world speed, cost and privacy gains depend on Lightning liquidity, routing reliability, and wallet and exchange integrations.
- If adopted at scale, the move could shift some USDT flow away from chains like Tron by offering Bitcoin-native stablecoin rails and lower-fee swaps for users and businesses, though success is unproven until major platforms add native support.