Tether debuts self-custodial tether.wallet, enabling direct access to Bitcoin, digital dollars and gold

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.

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.

This is a developing story.