Tether, the issuer of the largest USDT stablecoin, has announced its intention to integrate it into the second—tier Bitcoin Lightning Network. This solution is aimed at speeding up transactions and reducing fees when using USDT.

The integration will be carried out using the Taproot Assets protocol developed by Lightning Labs. This protocol extends the functionality of the Bitcoin network by allowing tokenized assets such as USDT to be supported. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino and Lightning Labs CEO Elizabeth Stark announced the partnership at the Plan B conference in San Salvador, emphasizing that it will allow millions of people to use an open and secure blockchain network for global dollar transfers.

Tether continues to expand its ecosystem: the company already supports USDT on more than 10 blockchains, including Ethereum, Tron and Solana, and the volume of transactions in 2024 exceeded $10 trillion. With the launch of USDT on the Lightning Network, the crypto economy is taking another step towards mass adoption.