Speed, Inc. (“Speed”), a global payment infrastructure company built on the Bitcoin Lightning Network, has secured $8 million in funding from Tether, the issuer of USDT and USAT, and Ego Death Capital, a venture fund that backs foundational Bitcoin innovations. The investment will accelerate Speed’s mission to move crypto beyond speculation and into everyday utility through instant, global, low-fee payments, built by an India-based engineering team delivering at enterprise scale for customers worldwide.
Founded by Niraj Patel and Jayneel Patel, Speed draws on insights from the duo’s earlier venture, Orderhive, a SaaS platform that served merchants globally. That experience shaped their interest in addressing inefficiencies in digital commerce, including the speed at which money moves. Speed is positioned around building payment infrastructure using Bitcoin and stablecoin technologies.
The numbers tell the story
Speed has processed over $2.5 billion in pure Bitcoin payment volume, consisting entirely of real-world transactions including everyday business payments and peer-to-peer transfers. The platform supports 1.2 million users and is growing at more than 100% year-on-year.
Speed Wallet operates within the growing ecosystem of Lightning-enabled wallets globally. Speed Merchant, the company’s enterprise-grade API and dashboard, enables merchants, creators, and digital platforms to accept Bitcoin and stablecoin payments with instant settlement, ultra-low fees, and full compliance.
A major validation of Speed’s capabilities came from its adoption by Steak ‘n Shake, one of the earliest national restaurant chains to integrate Lightning payments at scale. The rollout required custom payment flows across POS, kiosk, and mobile, deep integration with Acrelec systems, and high-availability architecture, demonstrating Speed’s reliability and ability to operate at enterprise standards.
“Bitcoin and stablecoins have been mired in speculation for too long. Speed is making them usable for commerce, creators, and global payments,” said Niraj Patel, CEO of Speed. “Lightning gives us speed. Stablecoins give us stability. Support from Tether and Ego Death Capital validates our vision for the world’s most efficient payment rail.”
Tether’s investment aligns with its strategy to bring stablecoins deeper into Lightning infrastructure. “Speed is demonstrating how USDT and Lightning work together at scale,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. “Their rapid adoption, engineering excellence, and commitment to compliance position them as leaders in the next era of digital payments.”Speed proves that Bitcoin can power real commerce today, not just years from now,” added Preston Pysh, General Partner at Ego Death Capital.
What’s next?
With this new funding, Speed will accelerate global expansion, enhance enterprise tools, scale compliant infrastructure, and expand its Lightning-based developer and mini-app ecosystem.
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