Tether and Shiga Launch Self-Custodial Finance Infrastructure Across Africa and the GCC
Tether and Shiga launch ENTA and Pulse via Tether WDK, bringing self-custodial USDT, Bitcoin, and XAUT tools to Africa and the GCC.
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TL;DR
- Tether and Shiga Digital have launched self-custodial financial infrastructure across Africa and the GCC, supporting USD₮, Bitcoin, and XAU₮.
- The rollout uses Tether’s Wallet Development Kit (WDK) to power two specialized platforms: ENTA (for individuals/businesses) and Pulse (for institutional clients/banks).
- Shiga is in the final stages of acquiring a Digital Asset Intermediary License in Nigeria to provide regulated dealing, broking, and custody.
- The partnership cements Tether’s strategy to build non-custodial payment and treasury rails across emerging markets.
Tether has partnered with fintech firm Shiga Digital to offer self-custodial financial products to individuals, businesses, and institutional clients in Africa and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
The product will support USDT, Bitcoin, and Tether Gold. The partnership builds on Tether’s 2025 investment in Shiga and uses Tether’s Wallet Development Kit (WDK) to build secure, localised crypto infrastructure for payments, treasury management, and cross-border settlements.
Speaking on the collaboration, Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, said, “Together with Shiga, we are bringing that infrastructure to markets where people and businesses face real challenges protecting savings and moving money across borders.”
He added that the collaboration extends “access to USDT, Bitcoin and XAUT while giving banks and fintech companies the flexibility to build around the needs of their customers.”
How The Tether-Shiga Collaboration Works
Tether’s WDK is an open-source, modular toolkit designed to accelerate the creation of secure, self-custodial wallets. Paolo Ardoino describes it as a tool that “gives companies the tools to build financial products that keep users in control of their assets.”
Shiga will offer two products, ENTA and Pulse, both run on Tether’s WDK. ENTA is designed for individuals, wealthy users, and businesses, and lets them fund their self-custodial wallets with local currency, USD, or Bitcoin. After funding, ENTA users can then hold or transfer Bitcoin, USDT, or XAUT.
Pulse is designed for institutional clients, including banks and other fintechs. Pulse allows these institutions to integrate decentralised assets into their service offerings.
“Pulse will enable banks, fintech companies and other institutions to build digital asset products around specific payment corridors, treasury operations and settlement flows,” CEO of Shiga, Abiola Shogbeni, said.
“Rather than providing a generic wallet interface,” he added, “Shiga will tailor Pulse to the way each institution and market moves money.”
Shiga’s COO, Dami Etomi, says Shiga is in the final stage of approval for a Digital Asset Intermediary License in Nigeria. If approved, it would allow Shiga to offer regulated digital asset dealing, broking, and custody.
Tether’s Africa Push
For Tether, the Shiga partnership further embeds USD₮ as the default settlement layer for emerging markets. Over the past year, Tether has systematically locked in key partnerships across the continent.
In May 2026, the company invested an undisclosed amount in LemFi, targeting Asian and African remittance corridors. It partnered with Busha Business in July to expand regulated stablecoin infrastructure for businesses on the continent. It also signed an MoU with the Nairobi Securities Exchange that same month.
By equipping Shiga with the tools to offer self-custodial treasury management to banks and individuals alike, Tether is ensuring that its technology stack remains the primary engine for cross-border commerce in the Global South.
