Tether Revives USDT on Bitcoin Network with Utexo

Tether is planning to relaunch its USDT stablecoin on the Bitcoin network in October 2026, nearly three years after it stopped issuing the token on the Omni Layer. The relaunch is being built through Utexo, a licensed infrastructure project that raised $7.5 million in early 2026. The new USDT will feature private transfers, direct swaps between BTC and USDT, and loans backed by native Bitcoin, with support for Bitcoin's Lightning Network planned for later. However, the success of the relaunch will depend on confirmed support from exchanges and payment companies, as well as measurable supply growth and actual use after launch. According to the source, Utexo's system will use RGB client-side validation, which will limit what observers can inspect and may also mean less fee revenue for Bitcoin miners. The launch is planned for Bitcoin mainnet first, with Lightning support expected later. Tether has not disclosed any exchanges or payment companies that plan to support the Bitcoin version, and without those integrations, the project would begin as a new issuance channel rather than a proven payments network. The exact split between Bitcoin, Tron, Ethereum, and other networks is not established, and existing reports say Tron and Ethereum still hold most USDT. A useful checkpoint to assess the success of the relaunch is March 2027, which will show whether Bitcoin-based USDT supply grows over time, supported by Lightning and exchange distribution. Bitcoin's payments case also has a public-use problem, with a University of Central America survey finding that 92% of Salvadorans did not use Bitcoin in 2024, and El Salvador's government announcing the Sivar stablecoin platform on Coinbase's Base network rather than Bitcoin.