Tether Will Integrate USDT into the Bitcoin Lightning Network

• USDT integration with Bitcoin via Lightning Network.
• Enabling efficient transactions and micropayments.
• Expanding access to stablecoins in emerging markets.

Tether is introducing its stablecoin into the Bitcoin ecosystem, leveraging the capabilities of the Lightning Network, a second-layer scaling network. The development was announced at the Plan B Bitcoin conference held in San Salvador, El Salvador, on January 30.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino and Lightning Labs CEO Elizabeth Stark shared the stage to unveil the strategic collaboration. In a post on Tether’s official blog, it was revealed that Lightning Labs, which is responsible for the Lightning Network, leveraged the Taproot Assets protocol, implemented in 2022, which allowed the Bitcoin network to expand its capabilities to support asset tokenization.

Today we're announcing that Tether is coming to bitcoin and Lightning! 💸⚡

With the security and decentralization of bitcoin and the speed and scalability of Lightning, USDT will bring hundreds of millions of users and trillions in volume.

It all comes back to bitcoin. pic.twitter.com/Hp6qQCpAVl

—Lightning Labs⚡️🌐 (@lightning) January 30, 2025

USDT, with a market cap of $139,4 billion, is the leading stablecoin in the market, pulling away significantly from Circle’s USD Coin, which has a market cap of $53,1 billion. Tether reported a transaction volume of $10 trillion in 2024, nearly matching the $16 trillion processed by Visa, and operates its token on more than ten blockchains, including Ethereum, Tron, Solana, and Avalanche.

Stark also pointed to the positive impact of this integration for users in emerging markets, who rely on stablecoins to protect against local economic instability. Lightning Labs also suggested that the partnership could facilitate future transactions involving artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles, in addition to supporting USDT micropayments on the network.