- Tether and Shiga are working on ENTA and Pulse, two self-custodial products for users and institutions across Africa and the GCC.
- Both are based on Tether’s open-source WDK and support USD₮, Bitcoin and XAU₮.
- Shiga’s Nigerian Digital Asset Intermediary licence is still pending final approval, while launch dates, fees and country availability have not been disclosed.
- The initiative targets high remittance costs and currency volatility, but self-custody adds key-management and regulatory responsibilities.
Tether and Shiga have announced a collaboration to develop self-custodial financial tools for people, companies and institutions in Africa and the Gulf Cooperation Council. The plan, revealed on 28 September 2026, puts Tether’s Wallet Development Kit at the center of two products: ENTA, aimed at retail and business users, and Pulse, aimed at banks and fintech firms. The products are designed to let users control USD₮, Bitcoin and Tether Gold, or XAU₮, without handing funds to a third-party custodian.
The move extends a relationship that began with Tether’s strategic investment in Shiga in 2025. Shiga Digital, based in Abu Dhabi, has been building financial services for African and Gulf markets, and the new initiative shifts that partnership from investment toward actual product development. Even so, the companies have not yet confirmed a launch date, fee schedule or the first countries where the services will be available.
From WDK toolkit to consumer and institutional products
Tether’s WDK is described as an open-source framework that helps developers create secure self-custodial wallets. Through one integration, Shiga can support the blockchain networks available in WDK and offer institutions two deployment routes. Clients may use infrastructure managed by Shiga, or they can run the system inside their own environment while keeping control of keys, data and funds. That flexibility matters for regulated firms that have rules around data residency and who can authorize transactions.
ENTA focuses on individuals, high-net-worth users and businesses
ENTA is the user-facing side of the plan. According to the announcement, people and businesses will be able to top up self-custodial wallets with local currency, U.S. dollars or Bitcoin, then hold and transfer USD₮, Bitcoin and XAU₮. The setup is meant to give users direct control over their holdings instead of relying on a platform that holds the assets for them. However, the announcement did not say whether local currencies would be held as wallet assets; they appear to be funding methods rather than stored balances.
Pulse is aimed at banks, fintechs and payment corridors
Pulse is built for institutions rather than everyday users. Banks, fintech companies and other organizations could use it to create digital asset services around specific payment corridors, treasury operations and settlement flows. Shiga says it will adapt Pulse to each institution and market instead of offering a one-size-fits-all wallet interface. The institutional version may be managed by Shiga or deployed within the client’s own systems, an option designed for firms that need tighter control over keys and data.
Remittance costs and currency volatility sit behind the pitch
The Africa-GCC corridor is not an arbitrary target. Tether cited World Bank data showing that sending remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa cost an average of 8.46% in 2025, among the highest averages for receiving regions. At the same time, several African economies face sharp currency swings that can erode savings and make it harder for businesses to plan. Dollar-linked stablecoins, Bitcoin and tokenized gold are presented as optional tools in that environment, though they carry different risk profiles.
Cross-border payments between Africa and the Gulf are another obvious use case. Transfers that can take several business days through correspondent banking may settle much faster on-chain, but real-world savings will depend on network fees, local conversion costs, regulatory checks and the quality of local payment partners. Shiga’s existing work with licensed financial transmitters suggests a market-by-market approach rather than a single cross-border rollout.
What Tether and Shiga say about the plan
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino framed the collaboration as a way to bring wallet infrastructure to markets where households and businesses struggle to protect savings and move money across borders. Shiga CEO Abiola Shogbeni said Pulse would be adapted to each institution’s payment corridors, treasury needs and settlement flows. Shiga COO Dami Etomi added that the company is in the final stage of approval for a Nigerian Digital Asset Intermediary licence and that ENTA will run on the same platform offered to outside clients.
Shiga Digital has already been serving pan-African commerce with virtual accounts, foreign exchange, treasury management and over-the-counter transactions, according to previous reporting on the company. Its focus on markets where wire transfers can be slow and costly helps explain why stablecoin and self-custodial tools are central to the new plan.
Nigeria licence and Gulf rules remain key variables
Shiga’s regulatory position in Nigeria is still in progress. The company said it is completing the final stage of approval for a Digital Asset Intermediary licence. If granted, that licence would allow Shiga to provide regulated dealing, broking and custody services to individuals and institutions in Nigeria. The company also plans to run ENTA on the same underlying platform it offers to external clients, giving prospective partners a live example of the infrastructure.
In the Gulf, regulatory context is also evolving. Tether Gold has been recognized by Abu Dhabi Global Market as an Accepted Spot Commodity, a designation that allows certain approved firms to offer services involving the token, but it does not automatically authorize Shiga or any other company to operate. The announcement covers Africa and the GCC, and there is no indication that the products will be available in the United States. A separate U.S. Treasury rulemaking proposal from August deals with foreign-issued payment stablecoins, but Tether and Shiga did not explain how their planned products would fit under it.
No launch date, fees or confirmed institutional clients yet
Several important details remain undisclosed. Tether has not provided a launch date, named the first countries, published fee structures or identified any bank or fintech that has committed to using Pulse. No initial payment corridor or projected transaction volume has been outlined either. Until those points are clarified, the collaboration is best understood as a statement of intent rather than a finished product rollout.
The product table in the announcement separates the two offerings. ENTA is for individuals, high-net-worth users and businesses; it supports funding through local currency, USD and Bitcoin and holds USD₮, Bitcoin and XAU₮. Pulse is for banks, fintech firms and institutions; it does not specify funding options, uses WDK to support Bitcoin, USD₮ and XAU₮, and can be Shiga-managed or client-operated. The same caveat applies to both: launch dates, fees and country-level availability are still unknown.
- ENTA: individuals, high-net-worth users and businesses; funding via local currency, USD or Bitcoin; supports USD₮, Bitcoin and XAU₮.
- Pulse: banks, fintechs and institutions; payment corridors, treasury and settlement; supports Bitcoin, USD₮ and XAU₮ through WDK; Shiga-managed or client-operated.
Self-custody cuts out intermediaries but adds responsibility
Self-custodial wallets give users direct control over their funds, reducing dependence on a third party that holds assets on their behalf. That control also shifts responsibility to the user. Private-key management, device security, fraud prevention and transaction mistakes become critical, and losing access credentials can mean losing funds. Regulators will also determine which products can operate, how they can be accessed and what compliance duties businesses must meet.
The three assets covered by the plan serve different purposes. Bitcoin is a volatile digital asset. USD₮ is designed to track the U.S. dollar. XAU₮ is a gold-backed token whose structure depends on the issuer’s framework for representing physical gold. A user looking for short-term liquidity may treat USD₮ differently from someone seeking long-term exposure through Bitcoin or tokenized gold. Even in a self-custodial wallet, token holders remain subject to issuer-level terms and limitations.
Tether is pushing deeper into wallet infrastructure
The Shiga collaboration is part of a wider push by Tether beyond stablecoin issuance. Tether has previously worked with Opera on MiniPay, a self-custodial wallet used in markets including Africa, which added support for USD₮ and tokenized gold in February. Tether has also worked with law enforcement on asset recovery, including a case with the U.S. Department of Justice involving more than $52 million in cryptocurrency. A consumer and institutional wallet strategy aimed at emerging markets points to a different layer of the digital asset stack.
For Africa, the appeal is tied to a large and increasingly digital population, heavy cross-border commerce and significant remittance flows. Small businesses may want faster international payments; individuals may want more ways to save or transfer value; institutions may explore digital assets for treasury and settlement. The GCC adds sophisticated financial centers, international trade and migrant-worker populations. Linking self-custodial infrastructure across both regions could support activity between economies that already have strong ties.
The Tether-Shiga plan sketches a model where users and institutions interact more directly with dollar tokens, Bitcoin and gold-backed assets while relying less on centralized custodians. Its practical impact will depend on whether the products are easy to use, secure, affordable and legally clear in each market. For now, ENTA and Pulse remain planned products with notable regulatory and operational questions still unanswered, and local rules should be checked before anyone commits funds.