Tether Leads $15M Mural Round to Expand AI Payments

| crypto.news
Tether led a $15 million Series A round for Mural, bringing the New York fintech company’s total funding to $28 million. North Island Ventures and existing investors also participated. Founded by former Palantir engineers, Mural builds financial infrastructure connecting traditional banking, payment networks and stablecoins. Its customers include Deel and Opera. Mural plans to use the funding to expand internationally and develop payment, banking and compliance services for businesses and AI agents. Companies can set spending limits, approve recipient lists and require additional authorization for selected transactions. These controls are designed for agentic finance, in which AI systems make payments on behalf of people or businesses. Mural says it has processed $2.1 billion in payments across 128 countries since launching its API in 2025, with payment volume so far in 2026 nearing six times its 2025 total. Tether cited Mural’s links between enterprise software and stablecoin payment services as a reason for investing, adding to its investments in AI companies AIsa and Tenstorrent. Mural’s valuation was not disclosed, and no integration between the companies has been announced. The deal signals continued investment in AI-enabled stablecoin payment infrastructure, but does not by itself establish a new product or direct change to stablecoin markets.
Neutral
The investment is strategically relevant to stablecoin adoption, as Mural is building infrastructure that connects business software, payment networks and stablecoins, with controls for AI-initiated transactions. In the short term, however, the funding round does not directly alter USDT’s supply, reserves, liquidity or redemption mechanisms, and no Tether–Mural integration has been announced. Traders are therefore unlikely to see a material change in USDT’s peg or price from this news alone. Over the longer term, wider use of stablecoins in business and AI payments could support demand for settlement assets such as USDT, but that outcome depends on product launches, transaction growth and adoption. The reported payment volume is a positive signal for Mural’s activity, not proof of direct USDT demand; the expected price impact on USDT remains neutral.