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The newly branded Halo Wallet seeks to broaden its efforts from Web3 to social finance, also known as SocialFi.
Decentralized wallet KuCoin Wallet announced on Apr. 3 that it has rebranded as Halo Wallet and launched a new SocialFi ecosystem. According to the announcement, the newly independent Halo Wallet received a fresh round of financing from several investors, including KuCoin Ventures, IDG, HashKey Capital, and other Web3 strategic partners.
1/ We’re thrilled to announce that #KuCoinWallet has officially rebranded to Halo Wallet!
— Halo Wallet (@HaloDotSocial) April 3, 2023
With a brand new name, new logo, new UI, new roadmap, #HaloWallet is ready to innovate the next stage of #Web3 social #crypto wallet!
Learn more⬇️https://t.co/GoYVvKdYoi
The rebranding exercise aims to expand Halo Wallet's focus from being a Web3 wallet to a broader SocialFi ecosystem. The wallet seeks to integrate a variety of on-chain and off-chain social media protocols, such as Lens and Twitter, to create a Web3 decentralized identifier (DID) system and engage with popular influencers.
In the future, Halo Wallet plans to gradually transfer governance rights of its SocialFi ecosystem to the community through a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO. According to the company, implementing a DAO governance model promises to motivate a larger number of innovators and users to explore novel financial models and trading opportunities, thereby fostering an active SocialFi ecosystem.
The head of Halo Wallet, Jeff Haul, noted that decentralized wallets are the primary entry point for users into the world of Web3. According to him, the revamped Halo Wallet offers an array of enhanced social features that assist users in creating a well-rounded social identity and locating quality information and prospects on social networks.
Related: KuCoin leads $10M funding for Chinese yuan stablecoin issuer
KuCoin Wallet has achieved significant progress in the decentralized wallet domain since its debut in June 2022. Since its launch, the decentralized wallet has offered comprehensive coverage for both mobile and PC, incorporated assistance for tens of thousands of tokens and non-fungible tokens (NFT) assets, rolled out features like native cross-chain swap and staking, and amassed a user base of more than 1 million individuals.
In August 2022, KuCoin Wallet integrated the automated market maker functionality of 1inch Network to improve token swaps. The partnership also provided KuCoin Wallet users with access to 1inch's Limit Order Protocol functionality, which allowed orders to be filled at a predetermined price when it was reached. This included gasless limit orders for Ether (ETH).
Circle’s investment arm has joined a funding round for CNHC, the issuer of the eponymous stablecoin pegged to the offshore yuan.
The investment arm of major cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin is moving to support new stablecoin initiatives by backing a Chinese yuan-pegged stablecoin issuer.
KuCoin Ventures has led a $10 million investment into stablecoin issuer and blockchain-based payment service provider known as CNHC.
Announcing the news on March 16, KuCoin Ventures said that the funding round included some prominent industry investors, including KuCoin’s investor IDG Capital and Circle Ventures, the investment arm of the USD Coin (USDC) issuer, Circle.
KuCoin chief investment officer and KuCoin Ventures lead Justin Chou told Cointelegraph that the new investment in CNHC is the first time for KuCoin Ventures to invest in a stablecoin-related project.
“KuCoin is always interested in building a stronger infrastructure for the financial system,” Chou said, adding that the world is likely to see more real world asset-backed stablecoins in the near future. He added:
“To ensure stability of the financial market, stablecoin designers need to find a balance between overcollateralization and efficiency. We are happy to see more algorithm-based stablecoins but they need to prove their resiliency."
The investment into CNHC reflects KuCoin Ventures' strategy of backing the Web3 infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region, Chou said. According to the announcement, KuCoin Ventures also invested $10 million in China’s blockchain project Conflux in early 2022. Chou noted that Hong Kong has a well-established traditional finance ecosystem and has a “real opportunity at becoming the new crypto center of the world” with new regulations and policy for digital assets.
CNHC co-founder Joy Cham told Cointelegraph that the platform launched its offshore yuan-pegged stablecoin CNHC about two years ago. He described the stablecoin as a “more akin to a house settlement tool” referring to CNHC’s limited exposure. According to data from CoinMarketCap, the CNHC stablecoin is only listed on one centralized exchange, TruBit Pro Exchange.
“It will be listed in more centralized and decentralized exchanges in the near future,” Cham added.
The exec also noted that CNHC currently supports settlement service in other major stablecoins, including Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC). Cham also noted that the firm has had some impact due to the recent banking crisis involving Silicon Valley Bank and Silvergate. “Some of the banks are our partners that help us to settle USD, but there’s other banking partners so service is still ongoing,” Cham said.
Related: Do Kwon had the right idea, banks are risk to fiat-backed stablecoins — CZ
On the other hand, KuCoin has had no impact due to those issues as it has no exposure to SVB, Silvergate or Signature Bank, KuCoin CEO Johnny Lyu told Cointelegraph.
“However, the whole market is exposed at varying degrees to USDC and USDT,” Lyu said, adding that removal of crypto from traditional banking could cause “long-lasting implications on the industry.” The CEO stated:
"Bitcoin was born after ‘Lehman Brothers’ yet still grew to mass adoption with about 420 million global users. The recent shutdowns of financial institutions may be the opportunity for crypto to reach mass adoption.”
The news comes amid KuCoin facing a lawsuit in the United States due to alleged violations of offering crypto trading services in New York. In a complaint filed on March 9, New York state Attorney General Letitia James argued that KuCoin violated securities law due to offering to sell and purchase cryptocurrencies that are “commodities and securities” without registration.