Shiga to Launch Self-Custodial Products on Tether’s WDK for Africa and GCC

Tether announced on 28 September 2026 a collaboration with Shiga to launch self-custodial financial products for individuals, businesses and institutions across Africa and the GCC. Built with Wallet Development Kit by Tether (WDK), the products will give users direct control of USD₮, Bitcoin (BTC ) and Tether Gold (XAUT ), or XAU₮, while helping financial institutions build services for specific markets and payment corridors.

The collaboration builds on Tether’s 2025 strategic investment in Shiga, which was designed to expand blockchain-based financial infrastructure and USD₮ access across Africa. According to the announcement, the new initiative marks the next phase of that relationship, moving from strategic investment to the deployment of self-custodial financial products built on Tether’s technology.

The announcement also sets out the market conditions the products are intended to address. Across many of the markets Shiga serves, currency volatility continues to reduce purchasing power, while the average cost of sending remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa reached 8.46% in 2025, according to World Bank remittance-price data cited in the release. Many existing digital asset platforms address one problem while creating another by requiring users to place their funds in custodial wallets controlled by a third party.

ENTA and Pulse

Tether and Shiga will address those conditions through two products, ENTA and Pulse. ENTA will allow individuals, high-net-worth users and businesses to fund self-custodial wallets with local currency, U.S. dollars or Bitcoin, then hold and transfer USD₮, Bitcoin and XAU₮.

Pulse will enable banks, fintech companies and other institutions to build digital asset products around specific payment corridors, treasury operations and settlement flows. “Rather than providing a generic wallet interface, Shiga will tailor Pulse to the way each institution and market moves money,” said Abiola Shogbeni, CEO of Shiga.

WDK will provide the open-source wallet infrastructure underlying both products. Through a single integration, Shiga can support the blockchain networks available through WDK and offer institutions two deployment options: clients can use infrastructure managed by Shiga or run it entirely within their own environment, retaining control of their keys, data and funds. The announcement states that this model addresses the data-residency, key-sovereignty and operational requirements of large and regulated clients.

“WDK gives companies the tools to build financial products that keep users in control of their assets,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. “Together with Shiga, we are bringing that infrastructure to markets where people and businesses face real challenges protecting savings and moving money across borders.” Ardoino said the collaboration will extend access to USD₮, Bitcoin and XAU₮ while giving banks and fintech companies the flexibility to build around the needs of their customers.

On its WDK product site, Tether describes the kit as an open-source SDK for building self-custodial wallets, production-ready with support for Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH ), Solana (SOL ), TON and other networks. The site cites more than 100,000 wallets created and more than 50 supported chains, and lists modular building blocks covering wallets, swaps and bridges, lending, fiat on-ramps and community modules. It states that the kit includes a TypeScript SDK, MPC support and hardware-wallet integration, and is available free with no vendor lock-in.

Shiga is completing the final stage of approval for a Digital Asset Intermediary licence in Nigeria, said Dami Etomi, COO of Shiga. Subject to final approval, the licence will authorize Shiga to provide regulated digital asset dealing, broking and custody services to individuals and institutions in the country. Shiga will also run ENTA on the same underlying platform it offers to external clients, giving prospective partners a live example of the infrastructure in operation.

Tether’s 2025 Investment in Shiga Digital

Tether first announced a strategic investment in Shiga Digital on 5 June 2025. That announcement described Shiga Digital as a platform offering pan-African access to blockchain-based financial solutions, with virtual accounts, over-the-counter (OTC) services, treasury management and foreign exchange (FX) services tailored to African enterprises.

The 2025 announcement said the investment would support treasury and FX management for legacy industries, such as oil and gas, both within and outside the African continent, and would enable independent contractors to access foreign currencies and receive payments for their services globally. It also said Shiga Digital was developing an on-chain gateway enabling users to transact directly in USD₮ for everyday goods and services, eliminating the need to off-ramp into local currencies. Tether said at the time that the investment supported its broader commitment to expanding blockchain innovation and stablecoin adoption across Africa.