Tether, the largest company in the digital asset industry, said on Sunday, September 28, that it is working with Shiga to bring self-custodial financial products to individuals, businesses and institutions across Africa and the Gulf Cooperation Council, according to a company announcement. The initiative, built on Tether’s open-source Wallet Development Kit (WDK), builds on the stablecoin issuer’s 2025 strategic investment in Shiga and marks the next phase of its push to expand blockchain-based financial infrastructure and USD₮ access across the two regions.
ENTA and Pulse target consumers and institutions
Tether and Shiga will roll the effort out through two products. ENTA will let individuals, high-net-worth users and businesses 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, tailored to the way each institution moves money rather than a generic wallet interface.
WDK powers both offerings
WDK provides the open-source wallet infrastructure underlying both products, letting Shiga support the blockchain networks available through WDK from a single integration, with built-in USDT0 technology, DeFi primitives and cross-chain interoperability. Tether framed the move as a response to currency volatility and costly remittances, noting the average cost of sending money to Sub-Saharan Africa reached 8.46% in 2025. “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.”
Nigeria licence nears final approval
Shiga is completing the final stage of approval for a Digital Asset Intermediary licence in Nigeria, which, subject to final approval, would authorize regulated digital asset dealing, broking and custody services to individuals and institutions in the country. Shiga said it 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. The expansion extends Tether’s wallet tooling for developers and adds to the institutional stablecoin rails that corporate clients are already adopting.
