Tether announces its arrival on Arkade, a Bitcoin Layer 2 solution. The issuer of USDT has invested in Ark Labs to support the development of an infrastructure enabling the issuance and use of stablecoins on Bitcoin. This initiative accompanies the launch of Arkade Assets, a protocol dedicated to fungible tokens.
Arkade Assets: fungible tokens and USDT on Bitcoin
While stablecoins are now primarily used on programmable blockchains like Ethereum or Tron, their history actually began on Bitcoin. Initially launched via the Omni layer, USDT gradually migrated to other networks, largely due to limitations in scalability and programmability.
But with the emergence of new infrastructures built around Bitcoin, such as RGB, Taproot Assets, and recent Layer 2 solutions like Spark and Arkade, the ecosystem is once again attracting Tether’s attention.
It was during a $5.2 million funding round led by Ark Labs, the team behind Arkade, that Tether announced its investment to relaunch its stablecoin on Bitcoin.
At the same time, Ark Labs unveiled Arkade Assets, a protocol enabling the creation and management of fungible assets on Arkade. This new infrastructure paves the way for the issuance of many types of tokens directly on Bitcoin.
Arkade Assets is now live on mainnet.
If you’re building stablecoin products, tokenized asset solutions, or any application that needs to move more than just Bitcoin: you can now issue, mint, and transfer natively on Bitcoin with instant execution and programmable logic. pic.twitter.com/Qfyjb0vE3w
— Arkade (@arkade_os) March 12, 2026
Arkade’s goal is to provide a programmable financial infrastructure capable of supporting smart contracts while allowing users to retain custody of their BTC.
According to Ark Labs, Bitcoin is currently the most liquid digital asset in the world, but it still lacks the technical infrastructure needed to fully support financial applications developed on other blockchains.
This is precisely where Tether’s involvement comes into play. In its press release, the company explains that its investment aims to accelerate the development of a stablecoin infrastructure directly on Bitcoin. Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, states:
Stablecoins were born on Bitcoin, and expanding their access on the Bitcoin network remains a priority for us.
Tether’s announcement is part of a broader effort to bring stablecoins back into the Bitcoin ecosystem, as evidenced by initiatives surrounding Taproot Assets and version 0.11.1 of the RGB protocol, which still face several technical challenges.
With the launch of Arkade Assets, Arkade could thus become one of the first infrastructures capable of bringing USDT back to Bitcoin.
How can Arkade be used today?
For now, the Arkade ecosystem is still in the development phase, but it is already possible to interact with the network. The main entry point is the Arkade Wallet, available at arkade.money, which allows users to utilize Bitcoin and assets issued on Arkade.
Users can deposit funds in several ways:
- By sending BTC directly on-chain;
- Via the Lightning Network, integrated directly into the interface;
- Or by using LendaSwap, an integrated application that allows users to exchange stablecoins for BTC from other networks.
While the infrastructure is still in its early stages, the arrival of players like Tether could accelerate the development of this new financial ecosystem built around Bitcoin.
