Tether launches a self-sustaining wallet, enabling direct access to Bitcoin and stablecoins

In an announcement on Tuesday, Tether launched tether.wallet, a fully self-sustaining digital wallet designed to simplify access to major digital assets including USDT, USAT, XAUT and Bitcoin.

As of now, the crypto giant mainly operates behind the scenes handling payments and money flows in more than 160 countries. Now, with tether.wallet, the company is transitioning to a consumer app that brings its infrastructure directly to end users.

“With more than 570 million people using Tether's technology, the next step is making that digital infrastructure more accessible and accessible to end users,” Tether CEO Paolo Arduino said in a statement.

The wallet works on multiple networks such as Ethereum, Polygon and Arbitrum and supports Bitcoin on-chain and through the Lightning network. It avoids traditional blockchain friction by allowing users to send money using simple accounts instead of long wallet addresses, and by enabling payments on the transferred asset itself.

Private keys remain fully under user control, with all transactions signed locally, reinforcing a self-policing model designed for accessibility and ease of use.

Initially, Arduino makes sending value as easy as sending a message, with no intermediaries involved and users having full control over their assets. He called the new product the “People's Bag.”

“In fact, it reflects the natural evolution of Tether's role, from building the foundation of a digital asset economy that anyone can directly use, to a future where tens of billions of people, machines, and trillions of AI agents will seamlessly trade at the speed of light,” added the entrepreneur.