Tether Leads $15 Million Round for Startup Mural

Tether led a $15 million Series A round for payment AI startup Mural, bringing the total funds raised to $28 million. North Island Ventures also participated in the round. Founded in 2022 by former Palantir engineers Sinclair Toffa and Chris Fernandez, Mural develops infrastructure for account management, payments, identity verification, and regulatory compliance in both banking networks and blockchains. Clients include payroll platform Deel and browser developer Opera.

Since launching its API in 2025, Mural has processed $2.1 billion in payments across 128 countries. The volume recorded since the start of 2026 already nearly six times exceeds the total for all of 2025. The company allows businesses to open accounts in dollars, local currencies, and stablecoins without building separate financial infrastructure for each payment method.

A key part of the product is control for AI agents. Companies can set spending limits, restrict the list of counterparties, and require additional confirmation for payments above a specified threshold. This addresses authorization and accountability issues when money is moved by autonomous software. The system operates on top of banking services, payment networks, and blockchains, providing businesses with a comprehensive view of financial activity.

"As agents begin to move money, the connection with banks, payment networks, and compliance systems, on which the world still relies, becomes necessary," said Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino. According to him, Mural's experience in linking corporate software with stablecoin payments was one of the main reasons for the investment.

Mural Technologies is not a bank: services are provided through Mural Networks—a FinCEN-registered money services business—and federally licensed banking partners in the U.S. On October 14, the company changed its name from Mural Pay.

The investment continues Tether's series of investments in AI infrastructure. On October 15, Tether Capital invested in AIsa, which provides AI agents with access to paid services, data, and computing. On October 20, Tether joined the $1.5 billion Series E round for Tenstorrent, valuing the company at $6.2 billion.