Sorted Wallet raises $4.4 million from Tether and Gnosis

“Over the years, digital asset use cases have evolved from trading tools to real-life applications, promoting financial freedom and inclusion. However, to achieve true inclusion, we must reach hundreds of millions of people who cannot afford smartphones or data plans,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in an accompanying statement.

Founded in 2022, Sorted Wallet has focused on low-cost mobile access for crypto users in regions where smartphones, data plans, and banking services remain limited. The company said its application size is roughly 10MB, allowing the wallet to run on stripped-down feature phones and lower-end Android devices commonly used across parts of Africa and South Asia.

Current traction has largely come from Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Bangladesh, and Madagascar, which the company identified as its fastest-growing markets. Mexico and several Central American countries have also contributed to adoption, according to the release. Sorted said the wallet has crossed 500,000 downloads.

Fresh capital is expected to support expansion into additional Sub-Saharan African and South Asian markets while also strengthening integrations with telecom providers. The company added that it plans to launch a new payment mechanism in May.

Tether deepens focus on emerging market payments

For Tether, the latest investment adds to a growing list of emerging-market payment and remittance initiatives tied to USDT adoption outside the U.S. Back in September 2024, the stablecoin issuer invested $1.5 million in Sorted Wallet to support crypto access through basic mobile phones in underserved regions.

At the time, Paolo Ardoino said the investment was intended to help users with limited access to smartphones or banking services participate in the digital economy through crypto tools designed for simpler devices.

Returning as an investor in the latest funding round, Ardoino said Tether had “reinvested” in Sorted Wallet because the platform helps expand access to digital assets regardless of “device, economic status, or location.”

Ardoino stated that crypto use cases had evolved beyond trading and increasingly supported real-world financial access, although he argued that broader adoption would require infrastructure capable of reaching users who cannot afford expensive smartphones or consistent internet access.

Another recent investment from Tether followed a similar direction. In May 2026, the company disclosed a strategic investment in remittance platform LemFi, which serves African and Asian diaspora users sending money home from the U.K., Europe, Canada, and the U.S.

The LemFi partnership would integrate USDT into remittance settlement rails connecting African and Asian payment corridors. The arrangement was designed to reduce transfer times and lower costs associated with traditional cross-border banking systems.

Gnosis backs stablecoin payment distribution

Daniele Pinna, an investment partner at Gnosis, described Sorted Wallet as an important access layer for stablecoin-based payments in markets where traditional fintech infrastructure has struggled to reach users consistently.

Gnosis, which has developed products including the Safe non-custodial wallet, has increasingly focused on payment infrastructure tied to self-custody and stablecoin usage. The firm said Sorted’s lightweight mobile approach could help extend crypto payment access into regions where telecom networks are more accessible than traditional banking services.