On December 16, 2025, Tether and ego death capital co-led an $8 million strategic funding round for Speed1, a Lightning Network and stablecoin payments platform handling over $1.5 billion in annual volume and serving about 1.2 million users. The deal aims to expand Bitcoin-native USDT payment infrastructure and deepens Tether's broader push into Lightning-based commerce and multi-chain stablecoin use cases.

Save the Children announced a Bitcoin Fund on December 11 to hold BTC donations for multiple years and pilot blockchain payment tools where traditional banking falls short. Built with Fortris, the fund allows the NGO to time conversions and run trials using digital wallets, vouchers, and stablecoin distributions. The organization accepted its first bitcoin in 2013 and by early 2024 had raised nearly $8 million.