Mural Secures $15M Series A Led by Tether to Build International Payments Platform

Mural announced Tuesday that the New York-based international payments startup has raised $15 million in Series A funding. Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, led the round with participation from North Island Ventures. The round brings Mural's total funding to $28 million. Mural previously raised a $5 million seed round in 2022 and additional pre-seed and interim financing from earlier backers. Mural declined to disclose its valuation following the latest round.

Mural plans to use the funds to further develop its platform for managing international payments. The platform allows customers, including payroll providers, software companies and fintechs, to hold traditional dollars, local currencies and stablecoins in a single account. Mural aims to replace the need for businesses to assemble connections among banks, payment providers and different regulatory systems. CEO Sinclair Toffa said Mural is building a compliant system of record that allows businesses and fintechs to launch new financial products using Mural's platform.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the investment also reflects a bet on AI agents becoming regular handlers of financial services. Ardoino said those agents will need payment systems that operate around the clock and reach people worldwide.

Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies typically designed to track the U.S. dollar. Stablecoins can move across borders in seconds, sometimes for only pennies in network fees. An Alvarez & Marsal report puts stablecoin payments at roughly $400 billion in the first eight months of 2026, up from the same period a year earlier. Chainalysis puts cross-border stablecoin flows at $220 billion from July 2025 through June 2026, up nearly 78% from the previous 12 months. However, businesses still face complications from connecting banks, payment providers and different regulatory requirements.

Former Palantir engineers Sinclair Toffa and Chris Fernandes cofounded Mural in 2022. Toffa's interest in international payments began during a visit at age 15 to Togo, Toffa's grandfather's home country. Relatives who routinely received remittances from Toffa's father in the United States told Toffa that transfers could take weeks and cost as much as 20% in fees. Toffa later became interested in blockchain and smart contracts while completing a computer science degree at Duke University.

Toffa joined Palantir's London office as a software engineer in 2018. Toffa visited large companies to help connect computer systems that could not easily share information. Toffa said that work informed Mural's approach to connecting banks, payment providers and stablecoins. Toffa met Fernandes at Palantir, and Fernandes also became Toffa's roommate. Fernandes agreed to join Toffa's proposed business, and both founders eventually left their jobs to focus on Mural. The founders chose the name Mural to evoke communities painting stories together and businesses building financial services on shared software.

Mural has offices in Denver, Colorado, and Bogotá, Colombia, in addition to its New York headquarters. Mural's 30 employees work across those locations and Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Mexico.