Tether Leads $15 Million Series A Funding for AI Payment Startup Mural

Stablecoin operator Tether has led a $15 million Series A investment round for Mural, a financial infrastructure company focused on autonomous agent payments ¹. The financing brings the New York-based firm's total capital raised to $28 million, according to an announcement released on Tuesday ¹. Venture capital firm North Island Ventures and existing backers also contributed to the round ¹.

Formed by former Palantir Technologies engineers, Mural develops software enabling businesses to oversee accounts, settlement, identity screening, and regulatory adherence spanning legacy bank rails and distributed ledgers ¹. The platform counts cross-border payroll firm Deel and web browser firm Opera among its enterprise clients ¹. At the time of writing, Tether's flagship stablecoin, $USDT, changed hands at $0.9989 amid a broader digital asset market capitalized at $2.75 trillion.

Safeguards for Autonomous Finance

The capital injection coincides with mounting enterprise interest in agentic finance, an emerging sector where artificial intelligence models are programmed to originate and finalize financial transactions autonomously on behalf of users or corporations ¹.

Mural builds controls designed to resolve authorization challenges surrounding autonomous software settlements ¹. Its stack permits corporate clients to enforce caps on transaction sizes, restrict allowed counterparties, and mandate secondary administrative authorizations before high-value capital transfers execute ¹.

Tether chief executive Paolo Ardoino stated that bridging automated agents to incumbent banking setups, clearing rails, and compliance regimes is vital as software systems begin to direct capital flows ¹. The transaction marks an ongoing diversification push for Tether, which has also built platforms like Hadron for asset tokenization, while programmable settlement emerges as a primary channel for autonomous AI tooling ¹.