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

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

The Bitfinex team announced via X on Oct. 18 that it had invested in Plasma to help scale Tether (USDT) usage on Bitcoin (BTC).

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

It’s a network where users can send U.S. dollar denominated assets to anyone around the world with no fees and leveraging Bitcoin. Rather than BTC as the native payment asset, Plasma looks to tap into the benefits of USDT and such other stablecoins, with its network as the execution layer.

Plasma allows for gas fees payment with BTC as it has native UTXO support. The account architecture also means a hybrid environment on which users can unlock staking and other benefits on Bitcoin. It also offers Ethereum virtual machine compatibility.

As well as solving global payments challenges, Plasma aims at sparking further adoption of the Bitcoin network across RWAs and DeFi, according to the blog post.

Commenting on the investment, Bitfinex chief technical officer (also chief executive officer of Tether) Paolo Ardoino, said:

“Bitfinex is excited to support the growing Bitcoin ecosystem with our investment in Plasma. With the uncertainty that covenants will come to fruition, it’s very important to explore different avenues to build on top of the most secure, decentralized, and resilient money and speech network ever built by humanity: Bitcoin”

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