Ark Labs, a Bitcoin infrastructure startup backed by Tim Draper, has raised $5.2 million in funding to build programmable finance infrastructure on the world’s largest digital asset network.
According to a statement on Thursday, the round included Tether, Ego Death Capital, Epoch VC, Lion26, Sats Ventures and Contribution Capital. Anchorage Digital and Ralph Ho, former vice president of finance at PayPal, also participated in the seed investment.
With the latest raise, the company’s total institutional funding now stands at $7.7 million, based on a pre-seed round led by Draper through Draper Associates and backed by Fulgur Ventures, Axiom Capital and angel investor Stephen Cole.
Ark Labs plans to use the new capital to expand its team, ecosystem partners, and developer tools to expand its Arkade platform.
Released in October 2025, Arkade is a programmable execution layer built on the Ark protocol that aims to transform Bitcoin into a platform for financial applications. It allows developers to create wallets, payment systems and other services with instant transactions, packet technology and self-service settlements in Bitcoin.
Tether’s participation represents a strategic bet on Bitcoin’s core infrastructure from the largest stablecoin operator on the market.
USDT controls about 70% of the global stablecoin market, with a circulating supply of more than $140 billion across multiple blockchains. The company prioritizes expanding its presence on the Bitcoin core, supporting similar infrastructure projects, including Utexo, to bring native USDT capabilities to the network.
“Stablecoins were born in Bitcoin, and expanding access to the Bitcoin network remains a priority for us,” said Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. “Ark Labs is building an infrastructure that makes it easier to issue, transfer and settle stablecoins directly on Bitcoin. Improving access to USDT on the most secure and widely recognized blockchain supports greater financial inclusion, more efficient cross-border payments and stronger global liquidity.”
Along with the funding, Ark Labs introduced stable coin and digital asset support on Arkade, allowing partners to issue, transfer and settle tokenized assets directly in Bitcoin.
The system uses the results of virtual transactions, known as VTXOs, which mirror offchain Bitcoin UTXOs, to enable programmable functionality without changes to the main network.
