Why Is Tether Bringing USDT Back to Bitcoin Now? Morgan Stanley Offers a Clue

Utexo CEO Viktor Ihnatiuk says he met Morgan Stanley in Washington to discuss USDT on Bitcoin. According to Ihnatiuk, the talks covered Utexo working with the bank on adoption in Europe and globally.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino reshared the post on X. He wrote that USDT is “coming home” to Bitcoin, the network where the stablecoin first launched in 2014.

Tether first issued USDT through the Omni Layer, a protocol built on top of Bitcoin, before most of its supply moved to Ethereum and Tron. The company later ended support for the Omni version in 2023.

Why Morgan Stanley’s Interest Matters

Utexo builds the infrastructure behind USDT on Bitcoin, letting wallets, exchanges, and custodians move the stablecoin over the Lightning Network. It relies on RGB, a protocol that issues assets on Bitcoin while keeping transaction data off-chain.

Tether led the startup’s $7.5 million seed round alongside Big Brain Holdings and Portal Ventures, the RGB Protocol Association says. Franklin Templeton joined the round too.

In August, Utexo added its RGB Lightning module to Tether’s Wallet Development Kit (WDK), a toolkit developers use to build self-custody wallets. Ihnatiuk founded the software firm Boosty Labs before Utexo.

Morgan Stanley, for its part, has pushed deeper into crypto this year. The bank launched its own spot Bitcoin ETF in April. It then opened E*Trade crypto trading in May.

What Still Stands Between USDT on Bitcoin and Users

However, the product is not yet live for most users. Utexo named UniSat, a wallet popular for Bitcoin Ordinals and tokens, as its next launch partner. UniSat serves more than 1 million weekly active users, the team says. Neither firm has shared a release date.

Tether first announced its RGB plans in August 2025. At the time, Ardoino framed the move as a privacy and scaling upgrade.

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

Paolo Ardoino, Tether

The RGB protocol has since reached Bitcoin mainnet.

The push also fits Ardoino’s wider strategy. He has ruled out a Tether blockchain, favoring existing networks instead.

Europe could prove harder, though. Tether rejected a bank-deposit rule in the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, which has limited USDT’s reach in the bloc.

Morgan Stanley has not announced a formal partnership with Utexo. Therefore, the UniSat rollout may offer the first real test of demand for USDT on Bitcoin.

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