Tether Leads $7M Series A to Expand USAT Payroll Rails

Tether led a $7 million Series A in Pact Labs on Tuesday to accelerate adoption of USAT, the company's stablecoin built for the U.S. market. Blockchange Ventures and Lasagna also participated in the round.

Pact Labs will build rails and back-end infrastructure for clients that want to use USAT for payroll, credit and payments. The work aims to let employers execute payments 24/7 and help workers receive wages faster; improving wage settlement is a stated focus of the investment.

Bo Hines, CEO of Tether USAT, described Pact Labs as “the rails to make digital dollars designed to be compliant with U.S. regulations directly into the hands of millions of American workers, faster, cheaper, and without the intermediaries that slow them down.”

In a company statement, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino wrote that workers in emerging markets have used Tether's USD₮ to bridge payroll gaps and that the firm is adapting that capability for the U.S. market. He argued that batch-based payment systems impose unnecessary costs on people least able to absorb them.

Tether launched USAT in January and designed the token to comply with the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin legislation passed by Congress last year. Tether's larger token, USDT, remains the world's largest stablecoin by supply but is not available to U.S. customers; USAT is intended as a U.S.-compliant alternative. Tether's most recent attestation shows USAT supply exceeded $140 million in April.

Tether described Pact Labs' role as providing technical on-ramps and services for businesses and payroll providers to integrate USAT into existing systems or build continuous-payment solutions. The company expects the infrastructure to reduce transaction friction and speed access to funds for workers, particularly in hourly and cross-border payrolls.

Pact Labs will be responsible for building the systems and tools clients will use to send, receive and settle USAT for payroll, credit and payments.