14 July 2026 – Tether, the largest company in the digital asset ecosystem, today announced that it has led a $7 million Series A financing round in Pact Labs, with participation from Blockchange Ventures and Lasagna. The investment will support Pact Labs’ development as a core infrastructure provider for USA₮ across payroll, earned wage access, credit, and everyday payments.
Through the investment, Tether aims to expand the utility of USA₮ by integrating the digital dollar designed to be compliant with U.S. regulations directly into the financial systems used by American workers and businesses. Pact Labs’ infrastructure enables enterprise platforms to embed digital wallets, move wages in real time, and offer financial services without relying on the delays and operating limitations of legacy payment rails.
The U.S. payroll system moves over $11 trillion annually, yet much of its underlying infrastructure was designed decades ago. Workers can wait days or weeks to access wages they have already earned, while delays between payroll cycles can contribute to overdraft fees, short-term borrowing, and other avoidable financial costs.
By supporting payroll and earned wage access through Pact Labs, USA₮ can give workers faster access to their earnings while enabling employers and financial platforms to operate around the clock. The collaboration is intended to make digital dollars useful within familiar, everyday financial experiences rather than requiring users to navigate separate or highly technical systems.
“This confirms what our transaction data has shown for years: the demand for dollar-denominated settlement is a wages story,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. “Workers in emerging markets have used USD₮ to bridge payroll gaps for years because their domestic systems failed them first. We are now building the same capability into the U.S. market, with USA₮, because even a functional system built on batch processing means unnecessary costs for the people who can least absorb them.”
“USA₮ serves real people, and nothing is more real than a paycheck,” said Bo Hines, CEO of Tether USA₮. “Pact Labs gives us 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.”
The investment advances Tether’s strategy of supporting infrastructure that brings digital dollars into practical, high-frequency use cases. Payroll represents one of the largest and most universal financial flows in the United States, creating an opportunity for stablecoin technology to improve how people receive, hold, and use their money.
About USA₮
USA₮ is a dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, N.A., that Tether, the global leader in stablecoin technology, has collaborated to launch. Purpose-built to serve the U.S. market and support American regulatory standards, USA₮ will be the foundational rail for the next generation of American commerce, trade, and finance.
USA₮ underscores Tether’s commitment to driving U.S. dominance and leadership in the evolving digital asset economy. USA₮ will set a new benchmark in the U.S. for utility-driven stablecoins designed to deliver long-term value, strong governance, and real-world applications. https://usat.io/
