Tether leads $7 million funding round to expand USAT payments infrastructure in the U.S.

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Tether leads USAT funding round

Highlights

Tether led a $7 million Series A funding round in Pact Labs, joined by Blockchange Ventures and Lasagna, to expand USAT payments infrastructure in the U.S.
Pact Labs aims to provide core USAT infrastructure for payroll, lending, and daily payments, with Tether emphasizing reduced costs and faster wage settlement.
USAT supply exceeded $140 million in April, as Tether leverages Pact Labs to advance GENIUS Act-compliant stablecoin payroll solutions targeting broader U.S. adoption.

Funding supports U.S. stablecoin payroll rollout

According to The Block, Tether said in a Tuesday statement that it led a $7 million Series A round in Pact Labs, with Blockchange Ventures and Lasagna also participating. The funding is intended to help Pact Labs build out infrastructure for USAT across payroll, earned wage access, credit and daily payments.

The company says Pact Labs will serve as a core infrastructure provider for clients that want to use USAT in wage distribution, lending and payments. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino says improving wage settlement is a key focus of the investment, adding that the effort is meant to reduce costs tied to batch-based payment systems.

Ardoino says workers in emerging markets have long used USD₮ to bridge payroll gaps where domestic systems fall short. He says Tether is now bringing similar functionality to the U.S. market through USAT, arguing that even established payment systems can still impose avoidable costs on workers.

Regulatory positioning and market impact

USDT, Tether's flagship stablecoin and the world's largest by supply, is not available to U.S. customers even though it is primarily backed by U.S. dollar-denominated reserves. Tether launched USAT in January as a product designed to comply with the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin legislation passed by Congress last year.

Tether USAT CEO Bo Hines says Pact Labs gives the company the infrastructure needed to place regulation-compliant digital dollars directly into the hands of millions of American workers more quickly and at lower cost. The stated goal is to let employers make payments around the clock while helping workers receive wages faster.

According to Tether's most recently published attestation, USAT supply exceeded $140 million in April. That suggests the company is pairing regulatory alignment with payments infrastructure as it seeks broader adoption in the U.S. digital payments market.

In our earlier article, we covered Flex’s $70 million B1 funding round and its expansion into banking and payments for mid-sized business owners. We also noted the launch of Flex Global, which uses stablecoins to move money across more than 100 countries in minutes and supports holding multiple currencies—signaling a broader push to modernize business payments infrastructure.

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