In a transfer that would reshape cross-chain funds, a brand new tether funding is backing the growth of LayerZero Labs’ interoperability infrastructure throughout the digital asset ecosystem.
Tether backs LayerZero Labs with new strategic capital
On 10 February, 2026, Tether Investments introduced a brand new strategic stake in LayerZero Labs, the event firm behind a number one interoperability protocol. The deal underlines Tether’s push to again production-grade cross-chain infrastructure utilized by exchanges, protocols, and establishments worldwide.
Mixed with the Pockets Improvement Package (WDK) developed by Tether, this stack is positioned as a core rail for digital asset funds, settlements, and custody. Furthermore, it’s designed from the bottom up for agentic finance, enabling AI brokers to handle autonomous wallets and transact with stablecoins and different digital belongings at scale.
LayerZero’s infrastructure underpins USDt0 and XAUt0
LayerZero Labs is behind probably the most extensively used bridging frameworks available in the market, offering the core expertise that lets digital belongings transfer securely and effectively throughout blockchains. Over the previous yr, its interoperability stack has been utilized by Everdawn Labs to construct and launch USDt0 and XAUt0 below dwell market situations.
These belongings are constructed on LayerZero’s Omnichain Fungible Token normal, which permits tokens to maneuver throughout a number of chains with out being fragmented into wrapped variations. That mentioned, the main target isn’t solely on technical class but additionally on delivering liquidity that behaves as a single pool, no matter which community customers work together with.
Since launch, USDt0 has supported greater than $70 billion in cross-chain worth transfers in below twelve months. This real-world throughput has been highlighted by Tether and LayerZero as proof of global-scale interoperability and validation of LayerZero Labs’ expertise as crucial infrastructure for main belongings.
Strategic rationale behind the brand new tether funding
The brand new tether funding displays Tether’s confidence in LayerZero Labs’ engineering functionality and execution document. Furthermore, it underscores the agency’s view that interoperability is quick changing into foundational infrastructure for the digital asset market, fairly than an elective add-on.
The dedication aligns with Tether’s wider technique of backing programs that cut back fragmentation, enhance liquidity effectivity, and permit stablecoins to operate as world settlement devices. In apply, meaning supporting networks the place the identical asset can transfer seamlessly throughout numerous blockchain environments with out splintered liquidity or complicated person expertise.
Government views on interoperability and agentic AI
“Tether invests in infrastructure that’s already delivering real-world utility,” mentioned Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. “LayerZero Labs has constructed interoperability expertise that permits digital belongings to be transferred in real-time throughout any transport layer and distributed ledger, enabling a elementary utility inside the monetary trade.”
Ardoino added that this infrastructure is designed to assist an rising economic system pushed by autonomous brokers: “This permits digital belongings to serve the infinite agentic AI economic system that can require such primitives to orchestrate micro-payments at an unprecedented scale.” Nevertheless, he burdened that the main target stays on sturdy, confirmed infrastructure fairly than experimental programs.
“Tether is an organization the world envies. They’ve turned a imaginative and prescient of borderless cash right into a actuality,” mentioned Bryan Pellegrino, CEO of LayerZero. “The success of USDt0 was an vital stepping stone. Having Tether deepen its dedication with this funding is the final word validation.” Pellegrino mentioned the 2 corporations are “thrilled to proceed constructing the rails for world permissionless markets collectively.”
Function of Tether Investments within the wider ecosystem
Tether Investments operates because the unbiased funding arm of Tether, which it describes as the biggest firm within the digital belongings trade. Based mostly in El Salvador, the agency deploys capital from Tether’s income and extra reserves into sectors the place expertise, infrastructure, and real-world utility converge.
Its portfolio spans synthetic intelligence, monetary companies, power, biotechnology, training, and digital media. Moreover, it holds strategic positions in areas akin to commodities, remittances, and sports activities and leisure, usually focusing on tasks that may scale globally.
By means of these investments, Tether Investments goals to again ventures with long-term potential to enhance entry, effectivity, and resilience in each rising and developed markets. The unit’s mandate helps Tether Group’s broader mission to strengthen decentralized programs, improve infrastructure resilience, and widen real-world entry to open, clear applied sciences.
General, the brand new capital backing for LayerZero Labs underlines Tether’s view that cross-chain interoperability, agentic finance, and scalable settlement rails will likely be central pillars of the following section of digital asset and stablecoin adoption.
