Tether leads $7M Series A in Pact Labs to push USA₮ into U.S. payroll and payments
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Tether has led a $7 million Series A funding round in Pact Labs, with participation from Blockchange Ventures and Lasagna, the companies announced. The round is intended to position Pact Labs as core infrastructure for USA₮ across payroll, earned wage access, credit and everyday payments.
Pact Labs builds infrastructure for enterprise platforms to embed digital wallets, move wages in real time and offer financial services without depending on legacy batch-based payment systems. Tether aims to use this stack to integrate USA₮—a dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, N.A.—directly into financial systems used by U.S. workers and businesses.
The U.S. payroll system handles more than $11 trillion annually, but much of its infrastructure dates back decades, creating multi-day delays between earning and accessing wages. Tether and Pact Labs frame these delays as drivers of overdraft fees, short-term borrowing and other avoidable costs for workers.
By routing payroll and earned wage access flows through Pact Labs, Tether says USA₮ can provide faster access to earnings and 24/7 operating capability for employers and financial platforms. The goal is to embed digital dollars into familiar payroll and payments experiences rather than pushing users into separate or highly technical crypto interfaces.
"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. He cited workers in emerging markets using USD₮ to bridge payroll gaps and said Tether is now "building the same capability into the U.S. market, with USA₮."
"USA₮ serves real people, and nothing is more real than a paycheck," said Bo Hines, CEO of Tether USA₮. He described Pact Labs as providing the rails to get 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 aligns with Tether's broader strategy to back infrastructure that supports practical, high-frequency stablecoin use cases. Tether positions USA₮ as purpose-built for the U.S. market and American regulatory standards, targeting payroll as one of the largest and most universal domestic financial flows for stablecoin-based settlement.
