Morgan Stanley enters the market: USDT returns to the Bitcoin network with the RGB protocol

According to Woofun AI, stablecoin giant Tether is taking a strategic shift and is teaming up with Morgan Stanley (MS.US) to push USDT to redeploy to the Bitcoin network. The move was revealed by Utexo CEO Viktor Ihnatiuk, who revealed that he had met with senior Morgan Stanley (MS.US) executives in Washington to discuss ways of cooperation to promote USDT using the new infrastructure in Europe and around the world. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino immediately confirmed on social platforms that USDT was' returning 'to its initial position in 2014, marking the stablecoin's attempt to reshape its native position in the Bitcoin ecosystem through technological upgrades after years of multi-chain fragmentation.

Judging from the context of technological evolution, USDT was initially issued based on the Omni Layer protocol, then migrated massively to Ethereum and Tron (Tron) due to performance bottlenecks, and officially stopped supporting the Omni version in 2023. The core driving force behind this return is the new infrastructure built by Utexo. The system aims to efficiently transfer stablecoins through Lightning Network and is deeply dependent on the RGB protocol. The RGB protocol can issue assets on Bitcoin without exposing transaction data off-chain, thereby balancing privacy and compliance.

According to data compiled by Woofun AI, Tether, along with Big Brain Holdings and Portal Ventures, led Utexo's $7.5 million seed round, and Franklin Templeton (BEN.US) also participated, showing institutional capital's endorsement of this technology path.

This architecture not only solved the performance limitations of the early Omni protocol, but also made asset issuance lightweight and private through the RGB protocol, laying the underlying logic for the large-scale application of USDT on Bitcoin.

At the market implementation level, the layout pace of Morgan Stanley (MS.US) resonates with Tether's technological advancement. In April of this year, Morgan Stanley (MS.US) launched a Bitcoin spot ETF, and in May, it also launched eTrade's cryptocurrency trading service. Although these products are not yet fully open to the public, they have sent a strong signal that traditional financial giants are diving deep into the crypto field.

Meanwhile, Utexo chose to cooperate with UniSat wallet designed specifically for Ordinals (ordinal number protocol) and tokens on Bitcoin as the launch partner for its next generation product. The UniSAT team claims that the number of weekly active users has surpassed 1 million, and this huge user base provides potential scenario support for the actual circulation of USDT on the Bitcoin network. Although the two parties have yet to announce a specific launch schedule, this cooperation is seen as a key litmus test for market demand, and aims to test the stability and user experience of the RGB protocol in actual application through high-frequency trading scenarios.

Paolo Ardoino proposed the RGB plan as early as August 2025, defining it as a key upgrade to improve privacy and scalability, and emphasizes that Bitcoin requires a “truly native, lightweight, private, and highly scalable stablecoin.”

Currently, the RGB protocol has been successfully deployed to Bitcoin's main network, in line with Ardoino's strategic vision of not building an independent blockchain but using existing network capabilities. However, the promotion of the European market still faces serious regulatory hurdles. The EU's “EU Crypto Asset Market Regulation (MiCA)” requires stablecoin reserves to be stored in bank accounts, which may limit the compliance application of USDT in the region. Given that Morgan Stanley (MS.US) has yet to announce a formal partnership with Utexo, the actual performance of the UniSat wallet product will be the first important case to test the real demand for USDT on Bitcoin, and its success or failure will directly affect Tether's subsequent global expansion strategy.