Tether expands USDT and Bitcoin infrastructure across Africa

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Tether and Shiga target African payments

Highlights

Tether and Shiga are building self-custodial crypto products for Africa.
Tether WDK will power services for consumers, banks, and fintechs.
The products will support USDT, Bitcoin, and Tether Gold.

This collaboration builds upon Tether’s strategic investment in Shiga, originally made in 2025. According to Bitcoinist, two products, ENTA and Pulse, will be powered by Tether’s open-source Wallet Development Kit, providing Shiga with a unified technical foundation for both consumer wallets and digital asset services aimed at institutional clients.

Two products target different markets

ENTA is being developed for individuals, high-net-worth clients, and businesses. Users will be able to fund self-custodial wallets with local currencies, U.S. dollars, or Bitcoin and then hold or transfer USDT, BTC, and XAUT, the token representing Tether Gold.

Pulse takes a different approach. It is designed for banks and fintech companies that want to build digital-asset services for payment corridors, treasury operations, and settlement. Institutions can use infrastructure operated by Shiga or deploy the technology within their own systems.

In both cases, control of the assets remains with the customer rather than a centralized wallet operator. Users and institutions retain their private keys, making self-custody a core part of the architecture rather than an optional feature.

Remittances put Africa in focus

Cross-border payments are one of the main markets for the new infrastructure. Tether cited World Bank data showing that the average cost of sending remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa reached 8.46% in 2025.

Stablecoins can move dollar-denominated value without relying on every stage of the conventional correspondent banking system. That is particularly relevant in markets where access to dollar accounts is limited or international transfers remain expensive.

Regulation will determine how widely Shiga can offer some services. The company is completing the final stage of its application for a Digital Asset Intermediary license in Nigeria. Approval has not yet been granted. If obtained, the license would cover regulated dealing, broking, and custody activities.

Tether takes WDK into financial services

The partnership gives Tether a practical use case for WDK as infrastructure that other companies can integrate into their own products. Rather than requiring customers to use a Tether-branded wallet, the model allows local businesses and financial institutions to build services on the underlying technology.

Supporting three different assets also broadens the scope beyond stablecoin payments. USDT provides dollar-linked value, Bitcoin adds a decentralized and more volatile asset, while XAUT represents tokenized gold.

For Tether, the project moves WDK closer to day-to-day financial services. For Shiga, the combination of consumer and institutional products creates two routes into markets where remittance costs remain high, although the Nigerian rollout still depends on regulatory approval.

Earlier, we reported that Tether brings USDT back to Bitcoin after years away.

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