Tether launches its own Bitcoin wallet

[sergiorus]

https://x.com/tether/status/2044023431176298976

Bitcoin + Lightning wallet (also supports Tether products such as USDT and XAUT on other chains) that uses usernames instead of addresses and private keys backing via cloud services.

More info:
https://tether.io/news/tether-launches-tether-wallet-the-peoples-wallet-extending-its-global-financial-infrastructure-directly-to-billions-of-users-left-behind-by-the-traditional-financial-system/


What do you guys think?

I just tried it. Seems like it supports Bitcoin on-chain, on Spark and on Lightning.
Pretty cool minimalistic UI.

[tbct_mt2]

Bitcoin + Lightning wallet (also supports Tether products such as USDT and XAUT on other chains) that uses usernames instead of addresses and private keys backing via cloud services.

More info:
https://tether.io/news/tether-launches-tether-wallet-the-peoples-wallet-extending-its-global-financial-infrastructure-directly-to-billions-of-users-left-behind-by-the-traditional-financial-system/


What do you guys think?

I just tried it. Seems like it supports Bitcoin on-chain, on Spark and on Lightning.

The name of Tether warns me that this wallet is close source. It's confirmed with their wallet description without any word about open source.

Tether, the largest company in the digital asset ecosystem and issuer of USD₮, the world’s most widely used stablecoin, today announced the launch of tether.wallet, a self-custodial digital wallet that brings Tether’s global financial infrastructure directly into the hands of its users.

From the announcement above, at the end they have a link to https://wallet.tether.io/ where I still can not see any word about open source.

And they have this.

Self-custodial by design
Your wallet, your keys. Back up your 12 words offline or save an encrypted copy to cloud storage. Total control, and the easiest way to send assets borderless.

What the hell?
They recommend saving an encrypted copy of your wallet backup to cloud storage.

[Charles-Tim]

I will prefer to wait before I will test this wallet to see other things about it that will not be recommendable aside being close source. You can correct me but I have seen it not to be opened source.

The number of downloads is just 5 on Playstore for now, so I will not bother myself about such wallet.

All I can say for now is that people should stay away from the wallet. It is not recommended. Why tether just launched their own wallet when there are several better alternatives that are even open source.

I can not use close source wallets.


Lock this thread. Existing discussion: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5580253.msg66615996#msg66615996

[sergiorus]

Bitcoin + Lightning wallet (also supports Tether products such as USDT and XAUT on other chains) that uses usernames instead of addresses and private keys backing via cloud services.

More info:
https://tether.io/news/tether-launches-tether-wallet-the-peoples-wallet-extending-its-global-financial-infrastructure-directly-to-billions-of-users-left-behind-by-the-traditional-financial-system/


What do you guys think?

I just tried it. Seems like it supports Bitcoin on-chain, on Spark and on Lightning.

The name of Tether warns me that this wallet is close source. It's confirmed with their wallet description without any word about open source.

Tether, the largest company in the digital asset ecosystem and issuer of USD₮, the world’s most widely used stablecoin, today announced the launch of tether.wallet, a self-custodial digital wallet that brings Tether’s global financial infrastructure directly into the hands of its users.

From the announcement above, at the end they have a link to https://wallet.tether.io/ where I still can not see any word about open source.

And they have this.

Self-custodial by design
Your wallet, your keys. Back up your 12 words offline or save an encrypted copy to cloud storage. Total control, and the easiest way to send assets borderless.

What the hell?
They recommend saving an encrypted copy of your wallet backup to cloud storage.

I understand your frustration, but encrypted cloud storage is a safe and battle tested way to secure private keys.
I remember using such a Bitcoin wallet 6 years ago (back then it was called Argent) and it probably wasn't even the first wallet adopting this tech.
Sure some old fashioned maxis will never use anything like that but nobody forces them to. This Tether's move seeks global adoption among regular people not very interested in the tech and it's been proven a number of times that regular seed phrases and private keys are an obstacle for those folks.

[BitMaxz]

Good to know but it is already being discussed here: Tether launches "Tether.wallet" (Bitcoin/Lightning/USDT)

I still prefer the old Bitcoin wallets, such as Electeum or Bitcoin Core since its already proven safe to use, but the only advantage is that you can also store USDT in this wallet.

[tbct_mt2]

The number of downloads is just 5 on Playstore for now, so I will not bother myself about such wallet.

Even if the Tether wallet or any wallet has many download times, it is not enough to conclude it is a good wallet to use.

In my post, I quoted some parts of Tether description about their wallet, which shows their wallet is close source but if you notice, they will give you two links for downloading the wallet, one for Android, and another one for iOS. All given links direct you to AppStore or Google Play, and there is no link to Github. It's another thing shows that Tether wallet is close source.

I still prefer the old Bitcoin wallets, such as Electeum or Bitcoin Core since its already proven safe to use, but the only advantage is that you can also store USDT in this wallet.

People can choose a Bitcoin wallet with customized filter https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet
They can read wallet reviews https://walletscrutiny.com/
They can have suggestions on best Bitcoin wallets.
https://learnmeabitcoin.com/beginners/wallets/#best-wallets
https://www.lopp.net/bitcoin-information/recommended-wallets.html#recommended_wallets

[Charles-Tim]

I still prefer the old Bitcoin wallets, such as Electeum or Bitcoin Core since its already proven safe to use, but the only advantage is that you can also store USDT in this wallet.

It has no advantages because it is close source and because there are many open source noncustodial wallets that are supporting USDT already.

Even if the Tether wallet or any wallet has many download times, it is not enough to conclude it is a good wallet to use.

There are times that I have Trust wallet when the complaints was very common on this forum. I have the wallet, not because I am using it but because I want to be able to answer peoples questions about the wallet.

[BitMaxz]

It has no advantages because it is close source and because there are many open source noncustodial wallets that are supporting USDT already.

That's the advantage, actually, but not the source because, like you said, it's closed source.
I tried the app and explored, and they only support 3 assets that support multiple networks: Bitcoin, USDT, and XAUT/Gold (this is what I mean by advantage compared to Electrum, which only supports Bitcoin).

The wallet is similar to some exchange wallets; I think it is likely a Bitget wallet or Coinbase wallet, where you have two options to back up your wallet via a 12-seed phrase or via cloud backup, which is not safe.

But since the wallet is source code, it is not safe to use, and then users can't audit the wallet; we do not know if the wallet has a backdoor or something hidden running on the app. 
Anyway, if they change this in the future to open-source, why not? It is a good alternative wallet where we can store gold, USDT, and BTC.