CasinoBeats can exclusively reveal that BetFury has partnered with Utexo to bring Bitcoin Lightning-based USDT payments to its platform this summer.
Once live, the integration will be one of the first major deployments of the technology at scale in iGaming, giving Betfury users a new way to deposit and withdraw USDT.
To understand the stakes, it helps to take a look back at the original promise of crypto casinos.
From the very beginning, these platforms were marketed as being built around freedom: Players wouldn’t have to deal with banks, there’d be no waiting, deposits would be processed in seconds, and users could play from anywhere, all while moving money whenever they wanted.
However, in practice, things haven’t always panned out exactly as expected.
Moving funds into and out of crypto gaming platforms can still mean waiting 30 minutes, sometimes an hour, or even longer, as transactions get caught up between a centralized exchange, a compliance queue, and payment rails that were never really built for instant settlement at casino scale.
That is the exact gap that BetFury and Utexo are betting they can close.
CasinoBeats sat down with Utexo co-founder Viktor Ihnatiuk to discuss the BetFury rollout, why he believes crypto casinos still have a payments problem, and why Utexo wants to bring USDT back to Bitcoin.
Ihnatiuk explained that Utexo hasn’t rushed the launch because it wants to be sure its audits and security testing all check out before going live.
“We have no second chance,” Ihnatiuk said. “If we fail, the game is over for us to come back to Bitcoin. I put everything on the table — my reputation, my money, my people — just to make it happen.”
That sense of purpose was present throughout our conversation. Ihnatiuk sees the BetFury rollout as an early test of a larger thesis: that stablecoin activity can return to Bitcoin after years of USDT growth on networks like Tron and Ethereum.
Why Utexo Sees iGaming as an Early Test
As one of the world’s largest crypto casinos, BetFury brings a sizable iGaming audience to the rollout. The operator says it has 3.5 million registered users and has processed $11.5 billion in total bets. This partnership will give BetFury the infrastructure to enable users to deposit and withdraw USDT via Bitcoin Lightning.
From the Utexo side, the rollout is also a test of whether iGaming operators are ready to add Bitcoin-based stablecoin rails after years of depending heavily on networks like Tron and Ethereum.
During our interview with Ihnatiuk, the conversation didn’t take long to move from Bitcoin’s UTXO model to casino payment fees and the history of Tether on Bitcoin.
He unpacked the architecture behind Utexo’s use of Bitcoin Lightning and the market dynamics shaping stablecoin payments, at one point comparing UTXOs to paper bills.
Still, he kept returning to the same commercial question: Can stablecoin payments become faster, more private, and more predictable without leaving Bitcoin behind?
Ihnatiuk got his start in Bitcoin back in 2015, first through decentralized cloud storage projects, including Storj. He also co-authored a white paper with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin before building Boosty Labs into a Web3 product development consultancy that worked with clients such as Coinbase, Ledger, MetaMask, Blockchain.com, and MoonPay.
After that, he started a venture fund that mainly focused on Bitcoin, Bitcoin Lightning, and RGB. And that’s when Tether found him.
In 2023, Tether approached Ihnatiuk about his work in Bitcoin Lightning. “They were like, ‘Viktor, it’s great what you do in Bitcoin, especially in Bitcoin Lightning — we want to invest in your venture fund and help you to scale your vision,’” he recalled.
That’s how Utexo came about, a company co-founded by Ihnatiuk, Chris Hutchinson, and Renat Skitsan through a joint venture between Boosty Ventures, Tether Investments, and Fulbright Investments.
Since its founding, the company has raised $7.5 million in seed funding from Franklin Templeton, Tether, Portal Ventures, Big Brain Holdings, Gate Ventures, and others. Ihnatiuk has focused on distribution and commercial scale since 2025.
While it’s true that crypto casinos already use stablecoins, Ihnatiuk argues the rails behind those payments still leave operators with problems related to speed, cost, and privacy.
“By using USDT over Bitcoin for deposits and withdrawals, casinos can reduce their payment processing fees at least two times, maybe three times,” Ihnatiuk said.
Crypto Casinos Still Have a Payment Problem
If you ask a crypto casino operator about payment friction, they’ll almost certainly tell you it still exists. The question hasn’t ever really been whether the problem is real; it’s been more about whether anyone could find a way to solve it that actually worked.
Ihnatiuk is candid about where Utexo fits in that picture.
“I cannot say that we’re a solution to a problem that no one can solve,” he said. “People are already solving it.”
In many cases, crypto casino deposits and withdrawals begin at centralized exchanges, where transactions can depend on exchange processing, blockchain confirmation times, compliance checks, and other procedures before the money can actually move.
For players, all those moving parts come down to a much simpler thing: waiting. And, as Ihnatiuk pointed out, that’s exactly what they don’t want to do.
“Players want to withdraw and get [their] money ASAP and start to gamble,” he said.
Some operators and payment processors have found a workaround to speed up the settlement process: using third-party guarantee models that allow casinos to credit funds before final settlement has been completed. Ihnatiuk pointed to GAP600 as an example of a company that provides that kind of transaction guarantee.
That can make the player experience feel instant while the actual settlement process continues in the background.
Ihnatiuk said existing workarounds are costly for operators.
“Payment processing companies and casinos are paying quite a lot, more than the on-chain transaction fee,” he explained. “With our solution, settlement happens instantly because of the nature of the Bitcoin Lightning Network.”
Utexo is also focused on bringing cost predictability to operators. Ihnatiuk said on-chain transaction fees can vary with network conditions, while Utexo charges a fixed rate of 10 to 50 basis points, depending on the use case.
“With our technology, it doesn’t matter how big [a] transaction you process, whether it’s 100 bucks or whether it’s like 10 cents or 50 cents,” he said. “We charge a fixed fee.”
If a platform has a large base of mid-range players and isn’t built almost entirely around VIPs, that can make a real difference.
Ihnatiuk said BetFury has a significant share of users making transactions in the $100 to $500 range, where payment costs can become more visible.
“They just want to grow [gross gaming revenue] a little bit more by having our technology as an alternative to USDT on Tron,” he said.
Why BetFury Can Move First on Bitcoin Lightning USDT
In theory, most crypto casino operators are likely interested in faster payment rails, but turning that interest into a live integration is an entirely different matter.
That’s because many online casinos rely on third-party platforms and have to wait until those providers support a new payment method before they can offer it.
BetFury’s setup is different, which is what made it a more practical first iGaming partner for Utexo.
“BetFury is one of [the] few crypto casino companies that owns its own infrastructure, which gives it flexibility to experiment,” Ihnatiuk explained.
That infrastructure is what allows BetFury to move faster than operators that need their platform provider or payment processor to integrate a new solution first.
“If you run on a third-party platform, then you’re just an operator,” Ihnatiuk said. “You cannot integrate whatever you want, even if it sounds cool.”
In a statement to CasinoBeats about the partnership, BetFury CEO Mike (no surname given) said the scale of its platform means the company is always on the lookout for new technologies.
“Innovation has always been a core part of BetFury’s growth. Serving 3.5 million registered users and processing $11.5 billion in total bets requires us to continuously look ahead and identify technologies that can shape the future of crypto gaming,” he said.
“What impressed us about Utexo was their ability to bring a long-anticipated innovation to market and make it practical for real-world use. We saw an opportunity to help drive the adoption of Bitcoin-native stablecoin payments and be among the first major platforms supporting this next step for the industry.”
Ihnatiuk said BetFury’s team was also very receptive to the Bitcoin side of Utexo’s pitch.
“Those guys are super open to innovation,” he said. “They are pro-Bitcoin. They’re like real Bitcoin OGs. They understand what I’m talking about even at a technical level. That’s why it was quite easy to work together.”
When the integration launches, Ihnatiuk said BetFury users will be able to deposit and withdraw using USDT over Bitcoin Lightning. Utexo is also working to support the payment method across exchanges and wallets so users can move funds from platforms they already use.
When we asked whether the rollout would be limited to certain users, markets, wallets, account types, or transaction types, Ihnatiuk said it wouldn’t be restricted at launch.
“Literally, for everyone,” he said. “We want everyone to be onboarded to Bitcoin and enjoy the beauty of Bitcoin.”
How Blockchain Data Creates Privacy Problem for Crypto Casinos
Speed and cost aren’t the only reasons Utexo sees an opening in iGaming. Crypto casino operators also face a privacy problem because public blockchain data can reveal transaction patterns, Ihnatiuk said.
He pointed to iGaming data-monitoring tools, like the Azur iGaming platform, that he said allow operators to analyze which crypto casinos are processing transactions, where those funds are coming from, and how rival platforms may be attracting VIP players.
“You can easily understand the players’ behavior on Stake.com or Shuffle just because you know their deposit addresses,” Ihnatiuk said. “You can build analytics to understand how to capture their traffic.”
While faster Bitcoin-based payments are a big part of Utexo’s case to operators, Ihnatiuk said its privacy layer could be just as important because it can make payment flows less visible to competitors watching public blockchain activity.
“It’s private, but still compliant,” he said. “It’s not a black market. It’s fully compliant, but private technology.”
The thing about privacy features in crypto gambling is that they can quickly raise questions about anti-money laundering controls, fraud, and financial crime.
Ihnatiuk said Utexo isn’t building its product to cover for illicit activity and that suspicious UTXOs can be flagged through blacklisting mechanisms involving Utexo and Tether.
“The last thing we want to do is [build] a money laundering machine,” Ihnatiuk said. “Our goal is to build a global business that everyone will use, so we cannot build it for bad actors.”
Why Bitcoin Lightning USDT Is Coming Now
Utexo’s system combines the RGB protocol for issuing assets on Bitcoin with the Lightning Network, enabling faster off-chain transactions while still anchoring settlement to Bitcoin.
“Lightning accelerates the transaction speed of Bitcoin without compromising the security of Bitcoin,” Ihnatiuk said. “Fifty milliseconds is the quickest transaction we have done through Lightning so far.”
Final settlement to the Bitcoin blockchain itself still takes time, but Ihnatiuk said companies can process large volumes through Lightning channels before settling back to Bitcoin periodically.
Ihnatiuk said demand for stablecoins on Bitcoin has existed for years. USDT first launched on Bitcoin via the Omni protocol in 2014, but much of its subsequent growth occurred on Ethereum and Tron.
“It’s not because Ethereum or Tron is the best technology,” he said. “It’s just because RGB was not ready in 2017 and 2018.”
That’s also why Utexo has been very deliberate about the timing of the launch.
“We decided not to rush,” he said. “We saw how many hacks happened recently with all these different blockchain projects. Instead of two audit companies, we decided to have four. We involved white hat hackers. Only when we, including Tether, are comfortable, will we go live.”
What Utexo Wants to Prove With Bitcoin USDT
Ihnatiuk isn’t predicting that Tron and Ethereum will disappear from crypto payments. That’s because players and operators are already used to those existing rails.
“I don’t believe that the whole iGaming market will just one day switch to us,” he said. “If you have used USDT on Tron for the last couple of years and you have your money on USDT on Tron, it will be quite hard for you to migrate somewhere else, even if you like Bitcoin a lot.”
Instead, Utexo is betting that Bitcoin-based USDT can serve specific use cases where speed, privacy, and predictable fees give operators a reason to add another payment rail.
Ihnatiuk said some operators may also see Bitcoin as a way to reduce the risk that stablecoin balances could be blocked. He pointed to reports that Tether froze more than $500 million in assets linked to an alleged illegal gambling operation in Turkey, saying the episode got the attention of other operators.
“In Europe, operators were like, ‘Maybe we’re next. Maybe they will block us next,’” Ihnatiuk said. “That’s why so many people like to keep their money in Bitcoin.”
BetFury will be Utexo’s first major live test with an iGaming platform, but Ihnatiuk says there’s more to come.
“We’re actually working with a few brands even bigger than BetFury on similar integrations, but BetFury will be the first one we go live with,” he said.
Utexo’s target is much larger than one casino integration. Ihnatiuk said the company aims to convert $20 billion in USDT to Bitcoin over the next year.
“My goal is $20 billion,” Ihnatiuk said. “The next six months are integrations, integrations, partnerships, then growth, growth, growth.”
The BetFury integration is on track to launch this summer. If it’s a success, Ihnatiuk believes the rollout could give other crypto gaming operators a reason to rethink where stablecoin payments belong.
“If we make it,” he said, “Utexo will become one of the biggest companies in the space.”
