Tether just backed Speed in an $8 million funding round—a move that signals serious interest in reworking how payments actually work. Speed processes over $1.5 billion annually by merging Bitcoin's Lightning Network with USDT settlements. What's interesting? They're building for everyone: consumers making everyday payments, creators cashing out, merchants accepting crypto without the friction. This isn't just another blockchain project—it's infrastructure trying to solve the real merchant adoption problem. The Lightning Network handles speed and Bitcoin's resilience, while USDT provides that stablecoin stability merchants actually need. Whether this becomes a major payment layer depends on adoption velocity, but you're watching the payment processor space evolve in real time.