Tether returns USDT to Bitcoin as Morgan Stanley signals institutional backing

• Utexo CEO Viktor Ihnatiuk met Morgan Stanley in Washington to discuss USDT on Bitcoin adoption in Europe and globally.
• Tether led a $7.5 million seed round in Utexo alongside Big Brain Holdings, Portal Ventures and Franklin Templeton.
• UniSat, a Bitcoin wallet with more than 1 million weekly active users, is named as Utexo’s next launch partner with no release date set.

• $7.5M Tether-led seed round size for Bitcoin stablecoin startup Utexo
• 2014 year USDT first launched on Bitcoin via the Omni Layer
• 1M+ weekly active users at UniSat, Utexo’s next launch partner

USDT began life on Bitcoin through the Omni Layer protocol before most of its supply migrated to Ethereum and Tron, a shift Tether made permanent when it ended Omni support in 2023. Ardoino reshared Ihnatiuk’s account of the Morgan Stanley meeting on X, writing that USDT on Bitcoin “is coming home” in a post on X published Thursday, September 24, 2026. The disclosure comes as Morgan Stanley has pushed deeper into crypto this year.

Ihnatiuk Says Talks Covered European and Global Adoption

Utexo builds the infrastructure that would let wallets, exchanges and custodians move USDT over Bitcoin’s Lightning Network using RGB, a protocol that issues assets on Bitcoin while keeping transaction data off-chain.

According to Ihnatiuk, the Washington discussion centered on Utexo working with Morgan Stanley on adoption across Europe and internationally, though neither party has announced a formal partnership.

Morgan Stanley launched its own spot Bitcoin ETF in April 2026 and opened crypto trading on E*Trade the following month.

Tether-Backed Utexo Adds RGB Module to Wallet Toolkit

Franklin Templeton joined Tether, Big Brain Holdings and Portal Ventures in the $7.5 million seed round, according to the RGB Protocol Association. In August 2026, Utexo integrated its RGB Lightning module into Tether’s Wallet Development Kit, the toolkit developers use to build self-custody wallets, a step that positions the infrastructure for broader adoption ahead of any consumer launch.

Tether first outlined its RGB plans in August 2025, with Ardoino framing the move as a technical upgrade rather than a marketing exercise.

Bitcoin deserves a stablecoin that feels truly native, lightweight, private, and scalable.

Paolo Ardoino, CEO, Tether

The RGB protocol has since reached Bitcoin mainnet, according to Tether’s announcement. Ardoino has separately ruled out building a proprietary Tether blockchain, betting instead on existing networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

UniSat’s 1 Million Users Set Up the First Real Demand Test

USDT on Bitcoin is not yet live for ordinary users. Utexo has named UniSat, a wallet popular for Bitcoin Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens with more than 1 million weekly active users, as its next launch partner, but neither firm has set a release date.

Europe carries its own complication. Tether rejected a bank-deposit rule embedded in the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework, a stance that has already limited USDT’s reach across the bloc and could shape how far any Morgan Stanley collaboration extends into European distribution.

The CCS read. Morgan Stanley’s interest matters less as a partnership announcement than as a signal that Wall Street now treats Bitcoin’s second layer, not just its base chain, as investable infrastructure.

With no confirmed release date for UniSat’s integration and no formal Morgan Stanley partnership on record, the next signal will come from whichever launches first: a public Utexo-UniSat rollout, or a bank statement naming Utexo as a distribution partner in Europe.

Original reporting: beincrypto.com