Tether Backs Ark Labs’ $5.2 Million Bet on Bitcoin’s Stablecoin Revival
Tether led a $5.2 million seed investment in Ark Labs, a Bitcoin infrastructure startup, to support the firm's efforts to expand stablecoin and tokenized asset activity on the Bitcoin network via its programmable layer, Arkade. While most tokenized assets currently operate on chains like Ethereum or Solana, Ark Labs aims to enable commercial functions such as authorizations, merchant holds, and escrow directly on Bitcoin. Other investors include Anchorage Digital and former PayPal VP Ralph Ho. Arkade processes transactions off-chain for scalability and privacy, with a mechanism allowing users to reclaim Bitcoin via pre-signed transactions if the central server fails. Tether has not yet committed to issuing USDT on Arkade, but Ark Labs has onboarded a smaller issuer popular in the Global South. Tether and the city of Lugano are advancing efforts to make Lugano a blockchain hub, including a $6.3 million investment in local digital infrastructure. Tether also reportedly holds significant gold reserves in the region.
