Bitfinex backs payments chain Plasma’s bid to expand USDT on Bitcoin

Bitfinex has invested in Plasma, a Bitcoin-focused payments, real-world assets and decentralized finance infrastructure platform.

The Bitfinex team announced via X on October 18 that it was investing Plasma to help scale the use of Tether (USDT) on Bitcoin (BTC).

According to a blog post introducing Plasma, the platform is targeting a zero-fee payment line for USDT.

It is a network where users can send assets in US dollars to anyone around the world at no cost and leveraging Bitcoin. Instead of BTC as the native payment asset, Plasma aims to leverage the benefits of USDT and other stablecoins with its own network as the execution layer.

Plasma has native UTXO support, allowing gas fees to be paid with BTC. The account architecture also means a hybrid environment where users can unlock staking and other benefits over Bitcoin. It also offers Ethereum virtual machine compatibility.

According to the blog post, Plasma aims to solve global payment challenges as well as drive greater adoption of the Bitcoin network across RWAs and DeFi.

Commenting on the investment, Bitfinex chief technical officer Paolo Ardoino (who is also Tether’s chief executive officer) said:

“Bitfinex is excited to support the growing Bitcoin ecosystem with our Plasma investment. “Given the uncertainty that contracts will come to fruition, it is crucial to explore different ways to build on the most secure, decentralized and resilient network of money and speech ever created by humanity: Bitcoin.”

Plasma also received financial support from Apeiron Investment Group founder and investor Christian Angermayer. Others include venture capital platforms Split Capital, Manifold and Anthos Capital.