Tether has made a strategic investment in Shiga Digital, an Abu Dhabi-based fintech startup, to expand self-custodial digital asset products across Africa and the Gulf Cooperation Council region. According to the latest reports, both companies will use Tether's open-source Wallet Development Kit (WDK) for the new products. Shiga Digital, operating since 2016, has processed over $350 million in transaction volumes and holds a DIFC Innovation Licence. The collaboration targets markets where local currencies face rapid depreciation and cross-border payments through traditional banking can take days. Shiga works with licensed financial transmitters across multiple African and Gulf countries to maintain regulatory compliance, with mobile apps available on both Android and iOS designed to facilitate stablecoin payments and cross-border financial tools for users across the Africa-GCC corridor.
Shiga's flagship ENTA wallet supports USDT, Bitcoin, and tokenised gold using passkeys and biometric authentication instead of traditional seed phrases. The wallet allows customers to add funds using local currency, U.S. dollars, or Bitcoin, then hold and transfer USD₮, Bitcoin and XAU₮ from self-custodial wallets. As reported by Tether, the funding options serve different roles - customers adding local currency would use it to fund access to the supported digital assets, with the announcement not specifying that ENTA will hold local currency as a wallet asset. The products address market conditions where currency volatility continues to reduce purchasing power across many markets Shiga serves, with the average cost of sending remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa reaching 8.46% in 2025 according to World Bank remittance-price data. The wallet's self-custodial model eliminates reliance on centralized custodians, giving users direct control over their digital assets.
For banks, fintech companies and institutional clients, Shiga plans to offer Pulse as a platform they can adapt to payment corridors, treasury work and settlement flows. According to Tether, institutions will have two deployment choices: use WDK infrastructure managed by Shiga or operate it in their own environment while keeping control of keys, data, and funds. CEO Abiola Shogbeni stated that rather than providing a generic wallet interface, Shiga will tailor Pulse to the way each institution and market moves money. The WDK infrastructure provides open-source wallet development with support for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, TON and other networks, with more than 100,000 wallets created and 50+ supported chains. This model addresses data-residency, key-sovereignty and operational requirements of large and regulated clients, enabling businesses and individuals in these markets to hold and transact in USDT without relying on centralized custodians.
The announcement comes amid high remittance costs in the region, with the World Bank's remittance price report showing the average cost of sending money to Sub-Saharan Africa at 8.46% in the third quarter of 2025. 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. Shiga's Nigerian Digital Asset Intermediary licence remains subject to final approval, with chief operating officer Dami Etomi stating the company is in the final stage of approval for regulated digital asset services. Upon approval, the licence will authorize Shiga to provide regulated digital asset dealing, broking and custody services to individuals and institutions in Nigeria. Within the Gulf, XAU₮ already has specific regulatory designation in Abu Dhabi Global Market, recognized as an Accepted Spot Commodity in July.
The plan extends a relationship that began with Tether's investment in Shiga Digital in June 2025, as reported by crypto.news. At the time, Shiga provided existing services for African businesses including virtual accounts, foreign exchange, treasury management and over-the-counter transactions. The 2025 investment described Shiga Digital as a platform offering pan-African access to blockchain-based financial solutions, with virtual accounts, over-the-counter services, treasury management and foreign exchange services tailored to African enterprises. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino emphasized that WDK would enable companies to build products where users retain control of their assets, stating the infrastructure brings solutions to markets where people face challenges protecting savings and moving money across borders. 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.
