Tether Launches Open-source Crypto Wallet Development Kit

Tether has officially open-sourced its Wallet Development Kit (WDK), a modular framework designed to enable the creation of secure, self-custodial, multi-chain wallets for humans, autonomous machines, and AI agents across various devices and blockchain networks.

The toolkit supports Bitcoin, the Lightning Network, Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, Solana, TON, and other EVM and non-EVM blockchains, with initial asset support for USDT (USD), Bitcoin (BTC), XAU (gold-backed), and upcoming integration with USA₮. This release is a cornerstone of Tether’s strategy to build a free and resilient monetary infrastructure, empowering developers and organizations to deploy white-label wallets without reliance on centralized providers.

The WDK is fully open-source and ecosystem-neutral, allowing developers to integrate features like DeFi, payments, savings, swaps, and cross-chain transfers into any application or device, from mobile and desktop to embedded hardware.

The framework incorporates USDT0 network-scaling technology to ensure seamless bridging and high liquidity, and it includes a Starter Wallet for iOS and Android, demonstrating how quickly developers can build a complete digital assets wallet. 

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino emphasized that the kit is built for a future where "every single AI agent will have a wallet" within 15 years, predicting a trillion AI agents transacting in stablecoins and Bitcoin, a vision driven by the need for decentralized, machine-to-machine commerce.

This initiative expands on Tether’s broader AI strategy, including the launch of Tether AI—a runtime for AI agents—and the development of AI-powered tools like an AI Bitcoin Wallet Assistant and AI Translate, all designed to operate locally while preserving user privacy and self-custody.

The WDK is available for free at https://wallet.tether.io, with upcoming integrations including the Rumble Wallet and Tether’s own self-custodial solution, both built entirely on the WDK.

The company wrote in a blog post:

Tether today announced it has open-sourced its Wallet Development Kit (WDK), a new development toolkit designed to empower humans, machines, and AI agents to build, deploy, and utilize secure, multi-chain, self-custodial wallets. These wallets can be integrated into any device, from the smallest embedded systems to mobile, desktop, or server operating systems.

With WDK by Tether, developers, organizations, nations, AI Agents, and even autonomous systems can create cross-platform experiences by leveraging a single solution to develop secure, production-ready wallets and integrate wallet functions such as DeFi, payments, savings accounts, prediction markets, gaming, and tipping. 

Self-custodial wallets are the foundation for a free and open financial system, forming the backbone of a resilient infrastructure that cannot be abused or disrupted by centralized entities. By open-sourcing WDK, anyone can audit, use, contribute back to the code, and build their own independent, secure, and permissionless white-label wallets. 

“Self-custodial wallets are the cornerstone of a free and resilient monetary infrastructure,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. “We imagine a world where humans, autonomous machines, and AI Agents have the freedom to control their own finances. In that future, where programmable money is the social network across the fabric of society, WDK by Tether is the cornerstone of the financial backbone, a fully open-source, self-custodial toolkit designed to be modular, independent, resilient, and infinitely scalable, enabling trillions of wallets.”

Unlike commercial wallet frameworks that charge fees or lock developers into specific ecosystems, WDK by Tether is fully open-source and ecosystem-agnostic. Built with flexibility at its core, the framework enables anyone to create wallets that can operate across Bitcoin, Lightning Network, EVM, and non-EVM blockchains, including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, TON, Solana, and more. USDT0 network-scaling technology is embedded to ensure seamless bridging and highly-available liquidity. WDK by Tether supports a wide range of DeFi primitives, from lending to swaps, alongside advanced features that allow developers to create comprehensive user experiences for any use case. WDK also offers customizable user-interface templates and widgets that simplify the most complex aspects of wallet development, as well as secure key management, cross-chain asset transfers, messaging capabilities, and stateful solutions such as real-time balance updates and transfer status tracking. 

Wallets need to run everywhere. WDK by Tether can live and evolve on any embedded device, mobile app, desktop application, IoT device, server, and even autonomous systems. From smartphones to smart fridges, from trading bots to spaceships – WDK by Tether enables financial sovereignty across all environments. In a world where AI agents and robots are becoming increasingly autonomous and will permeate every aspect of our lives, machines need to access and self-manage their own resources. WDK by Tether would be the logical, rational preferred choice for the digital entities of tomorrow, ensuring direct custody of funds, highly scalable transactions, and empowering the infinite AI economy of the future.

End-users benefit from a simple and intuitive experience that hides the complexity of crypto, including gas fees, bridge management, and network switching. At the same time, developers gain a robust and modular architecture that can be easily extended for future innovations. The soon-to-be-launched Rumble Wallet and Tether’s own upcoming self-custodial solution are built entirely on WDK, demonstrating the framework’s scalability, security, and adaptability.

"Self-custodial wallets are the cornerstone of a free and resilient monetary infrastructure. If we continue to build towards this common goal, we'll be Unstoppable Together," Ardoino wrote on X.