Tether has rolled out tether.wallet, a fully self-custodial digital wallet designed to simplify access to major digital assets including USDT, USAT, XAUT, and Bitcoin, according to a Tuesday announcement.
Until now, the crypto giant mainly operated behind the scenes, powering payments and liquidity across more than 160 countries. Now, with tether.wallet, the firm is transitioning into a consumer app that brings its infrastructure directly to end users.
“With more than 570 million people already using Tether’s technology, the next step is making that digital infrastructure even more accessible and usable by the end users,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in a statement. “The objective is to remove the complexity that has prevented broader adoption while preserving the properties that make the digital assets technology valuable.”
The wallet operates across multiple networks such as Ethereum, Polygon, and Arbitrum, and supports Bitcoin on-chain and via the Lightning Network. It removes traditional blockchain friction by allowing users to send funds using simple identifiers instead of long wallet addresses and by enabling fee payments on the transferred asset itself.
Private keys remain fully under user control, with all transactions signed locally, reinforcing a self-custodial model designed for accessibility and ease of use.
With the launch, Ardoino envisions sending value becoming as easy as sending a message, without intermediaries involved and with users retaining complete control over their assets. He called the new product “the People’s Wallet.”
“It truly reflects the natural evolution of Tether’s role, from building the foundation of the digital asset economy to making it directly usable by anyone, ready for a future in which tens of billions of humans, machines, and trillions of AI agents will transact seamlessly at the speed of light,” the entrepreneur added.