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Santander appoints crypto custodian Taurus to safeguard Bitcoin, Ether: Report

November 29, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Banking

An unconfirmed report suggests Taurus will provide crypto custodial services to Spanish financial services giant Banco Santander.

Spanish financial services giant Banco Santander has reportedly selected digital asset management firm Taurus to safeguard its Swiss clients’ Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).

On Nov. 20, Santander Private Banking International’s Swiss private banking unit rolled out a new Bitcoin and Ether trading service for clients with Swiss accounts. A Santander spokesperson told Cointelegraph that clients will get access to crypto investment services only after requesting it through relationship managers.

A CoinDesk report citing “a person familiar with the arrangement” stated that the bank had appointed crypto custody firm Taurus for the safekeeping of the crypto assets. Cointelegraph reached out for confirmation from Santander, which declined to comment, saying:

“Unfortunately, it’s a no comment. We don’t comment on providers or possible providers.”

On Sept. 14, Taurus partnered with German banking giant Deutsche Bank to provide cryptocurrency custody options to its customers.

Taurus did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.

While some banks tap into existing players for custodial needs, DZ Bank — the third largest bank in Germany by asset size — launched its own digital assets custody platform built on blockchain.

Holger Meffert, head of securities services and digital custody at DZ, expressed the bank’s interest in distributed ledger technology. The bank also hopes to offer institutional investors and private customers the facility to buy cryptocurrencies, “such as Bitcoin,” in the future.

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New Zealand dollar stablecoin goes live through local crypto exchange

November 22, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Easy Crypto launched the aptly named New Zealand Dollar Stablecoin (NZDD) in partnership with an Australian blockchain development firm.

A New Zealand dollar-pegged stablecoin has gone live through a partnership with New Zealand crypto exchange Easy Crypto and Australian blockchain development firm Labrys.

In a Nov. 22 announcement, Labrys and Easy Crypto said the NZDD will be backed 1:1 with cash in trust and regulated by the New Zealand Financial Markets Authority.

It’s initially live on Ethereum but has plans to expand to Polygon, the BNB Smart Chain, Arbitrum, Optimism and Coinbase’s Base.

Easy Crypto was motivated to launch the stablecoin as it claimed it was harder for New Zealanders to maximize their profits when using U.S. dollar-pegged tokens.

Easy Crypto co-founder and CEO Janine Grainger said the NZDD bridges the gap with traditional finance and claimed it would “move NZ forward as a nation, giving us a digital, programmable currency that can do everything the NZD can do.”

Alongside the stablecoin, Easy Crypto introduced a multicurrency self-custody wallet protected by multiparty computation cryptography by enlisting the user’s “trusted social circle” with parts of the key instead of a seed phrase.

Keep an eye out for an upcoming episode with Easy Crypto talking about the new wallet and new #stablecoin!
#NZDD #investing #alternative #assets #realdiversification pic.twitter.com/Wt9EPq1Gri
— Darcy Ungaro (@UngaroDarcy) November 21, 2023

An August report commissioned by the New Zealand’s parliament said the country has taken an “agile” approach to crypto regulation. It recommend that problems are "addressed as they arise and that the government creates "coherent and consistent guidance on the treatment of digital assets under current law.”

Earlier attempts to launch a NZ dollar-pegged stablecoin include the 2021 launch of $NZDs by Australian financial services provider Techemyny.

However, in 2022, the bridge used by the stablecoin was blacklisted after the hack of the DFX Finance protocol in November 2022 leaving a large portion of funds stranded on the Polygon blockchain.

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Ex-FTX execs team up to build new crypto exchange 12 months after FTX collapse: Report

November 12, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Armani Ferrante

The cryptocurrency exchanges offers a self-custody solution that integrates a multiparty computation technique to secure funds.

Several former FTX executives have teamed up to help build a new cryptocurrency exchange in Dubai with a specific focus on what FTX failed to do — secure customer funds.

Ex-FTX lawyer Can Sun is leading the way with Trek Labs, a Dubai-based startup that received a license to offer cryptocurrency services in the region in late October. Backpack Exchange is the name under which Trek Labs will offer those services.

Sun will receive support from ex-FTX employee, Armani Ferrante, who serves as CEO of Trek’s holding company in the British Virgin Islands, according to a Nov. 11 report by the Wall Street Journal. Ferrante also runs Backpack, a cryptocurrency wallet which is integrated in Backpack Exchange.

Sun’s former legal deputy at FTX, Claire Zhang, who is also Ferrante’s wife, is also on Trek’s executive team. However, once Trek raises an investment round, Zhang plans to transition out of the company as she has been working without pay to “help bootstrap the exchange," WSJ said.

Sun and Ferrante iterated they wanted to use the lessons learned from FTX’s failure to protect customer funds. Backpack’s technology offers a self-custody solution which integrates a multiparty computation (MPC) technique to ensure funds remain secure. MPC typically involves several parties approving a transaction before funds are moved.

With things heating up, please be aware of phishing attacks on the rise.

Backpack will NEVER ask you for your private keys.

The only valid website URLs are in our bio. Assume anything else is a scam.

Stay safe.
— Backpack (@xNFT_Backpack) November 11, 2023

It will also enable Backpack customers to verify funds whenever they want, Sun told WSJ:

“In a post-FTX world, you need trust and transparency to create a true alternative to the other players.”

Backpack Exchange is currently in beta and a wider launch will come later this month, the firm said.

Sun was a witness at Bankman-Fried’s recent fraud trial where he revealed that the former FTX CEO turned to him seeking a legal justification as to why FTX’s funds were at Alameda Research. Bankman-Fried was convicted on all seven fraud-related charges.

Sun said he quit as FTX’s general counsel the day after Bankman-Fried told him about the use of customer money.

“This went against everything that I stood for and was represented to me by Sam.”

Bankman-Fried’s former empire commingled billions of dollars of customer funds through Alameda Research for investment purposes. About $9 billion in customer funds went missing.

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Binance launches Web3 wallet for its 120M registered users

November 8, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Binance

The Binance Web3 wallet has been launched within the primary Binance app, which is predominantly used for trading cryptocurrencies.

Crypto exchange Binance announced the launch of its new Web3 wallet at the Binance Blockchain Week conference in Istanbul, to be made available to all users via the Binance mobile app.

During the launch, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, CEO of Binance, revealed the intent behind launching the service:

“Web3 wallets represent more than just storing digital assets — they are an integral part of the Web3 framework, empowering individuals with the ability for self-sovereign finance.”

For the purpose of simplicity, Binance’s Web3 wallet launches within the primary Binance app, which is predominantly used for trading cryptocurrencies. The wallet uses multiparty computation (MPC), which is used to break a user’s private keys into three smaller parts known as key shares.

“Having the key shares split across three different locations mitigates the risk of the keys being compromised and reduces the vulnerability of the system.”

Two of the three key shares will be controlled by the user at all times, allowing for self-custody. Binance spokesperson confirmed with Cointelegraph that the Binance Web3 Wallet is not available to users in the US as Binance.com is not available in the US. CZ added:

“Binance’s Web3 Wallet lowers the barriers of entry for users to achieve full self-custody of their assets, and it is an important, convenient bridge towards DeFi empowerment. Ultimately, our priority is to ensure users can explore Web3 with us within a user-friendly and protected environment.”

According to Richard Teng, head of regional markets at Binance, the MPC technology removes the fear of losing one’s seed phrase. “We want our users to be assured that they are interacting with Web3 within a secure and protected ecosystem. That is why we have incorporated MPC technology as well as Binance’s trusted security infrastructure within the Web3 Wallet,” he added.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, a Binance spokesperson clarified that users should still safeguard their wallet’s assets and access.

"If a user forgets their recovery password AND loses their device/delete the Binance app, they won’t be able to access their Web3 Wallet and Binance will not be able to restore it for them."

The three shares of the keys will be held in three places — the first part will be with Binance, the second part will get stored locally on the user's mobile phone and the third part will get encrypted by the user's recovery password and backed up to their personal cloud storage such as iCloud or Google Drive.

Binance’s decision to delve into other crypto services comes at a time when its spot trading business appears to be struggling to retain investors. A report from blockchain analytics firm 0xScope suggested that Binance’s spot trading market share fell to 40% in 2023. According to the researchers:

“Binance’s spot trading volume has seen a significant decline in the past year, perhaps due to its listing strategy. Most popular coins experienced a downturn immediately after being listed on Binance.”

On the contrary, Korean crypto exchange Upbit saw the most significant increase, with its spot market share increasing from 5% to 15.3% during the same period. CZ, too, saw his net worth slashed by 38% amid a slump in exchange volumes, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

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Telegram Wallet avoided self-custody to ease crypto onboarding, COO says

November 6, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

As Telegram prepares to roll out Telegram Wallet as a native setting on the messenger in November, it’s important to understand why Wallet opted for custody over self-custody.

Telegram Wallet, a major Telegram bot allowing users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), has chosen custody over self-custody to chase easier onboarding goals, according to a senior executive.

In July 2023, crypto-friendly Telegram messenger officially announced the integration of the custodial crypto wallet, Telegram Wallet, to allow users to access the wallet directly from the messenger’s settings.

Though Telegram has enabled existing Wallet users to see the wallet bot directly in the messenger, those who have never used the bot are still not seeing the crypto wallet in their settings section of the messenger.

According to Telegram Wallet chief operating officer Halil Mirakhmed, the full Wallet rollout is expected to begin sometime in November 2023, starting with “several African and Latin American countries.” With the rollout, Telegram users in select countries can access the Wallet and start buying, selling and transacting cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC).

“The rollout will continue throughout MENA, South East Asia, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe,” Mirakhmed told Cointelegraph, adding:

“Once the global rollout has concluded, Wallet will become available in the Telegram settings menu throughout the world, with the exception of the jurisdictions in which Wallet does not operate.”

As Telegram Wallet anticipates the soon-to-come rollout of its crypto wallet to millions of Telegram users, it's important to note that the wallet bot is not self-custodial.

Unlike major self-custodial wallets, like MetaMask, the Telegram Wallet bot operates a custodial wallet currently, meaning that users entrust their coins to a third party and do not own their assets directly. For example, to withdraw Bitcoin from the Telegram Wallet, users must have enough BTC to cover Telegram Wallet’s fees, which may sometimes be more expensive than the native fees on the Bitcoin network.

According to Telegram Wallet’s chief operating officer, the wallet bot platform opted for a custodial solution instead of a self-custodial one for several reasons, including easy onboarding of new users.

“If you want to introduce as many people as possible to crypto, self-custody becomes exceedingly difficult,” Mirakhmed said in an interview with Cointelegraph.

“Imagine if you’ve never used crypto before and your go-to solution for now, let’s say, is a non-custodial wallet on Ether,” the chief operating officer said. The exec stressed that before using a self-custodial wallet, one has to sort out how to store the seed phrase and figure out how to deal with the wallet, whether it’s a Chrome extension or an app.

One should also be ready to pay gas fees to transact Ether (ETH), which adds too much complexity to a non-crypto native user, Telegram Wallet COO believes.

In contrast to self-custodial wallets, Telegram Wallet aims to help users start using crypto the exact moment they click on Wallet on their Telegram settings, Mirakhmed said:

“First of all, the onboarding is very simple. Secondly, you already have a few chains on there. And thirdly, when you want to send someone any assets, you just use a telephone contact. So I can send money to you on Telegram rather than having to know what your address is. It all happens within Telegram.”

Cointelegraph previously reported on the issue of understanding cryptocurrency custody and choosing between custodial wallet solutions and self-custodial ones. Long story short, custodial wallets are more convenient but significantly less safe, while self-custodial, or non-custodial wallets, are less convenient but more secure. The biggest issue of using a self-custodial solution is the user's sole responsibility to keep the private key, or the seed phrase, safe, in order to keep owning a crypto asset.

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Trezor releases new hardware wallet and metal private key backup

October 12, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Trezor is celebrating its 10th anniversary by releasing three new self-custody products, with a focus on providing entry-level devices.

Trezor, a major provider of hardware cryptocurrency wallets, is celebrating its 10th anniversary by releasing three self-custody products, including a new Trezor wallet, a proprietary private key backup solution and a Bitcoin (BTC)-only wallet.

The Czech Republic-based company officially announced the launch of Trezor Safe 3, its brand-new hardware wallet supporting more than 7,000 cryptocurrencies, on Oct. 12. The firm highlighted that the new wallet launch marks an important milestone in Trezor’s provision of entry-level hardware wallets.

The release of the Trezor Safe 3 wallet comes nearly five years after the hardware wallet firm rolled out the Trezor Model T in February 2018. Retailed for $79, Trezor Safe 3 is available in four colors: solar gold, stellar silver, galactic rose and cosmic black.

*Trezor Safe 3 hardware wallets. Source: Trezor*

The new wallet device maintains Trezor’s commitment to open-source development, applying open-source principles in using the security component, the announcement notes. Trezor has chosen a third-party secure element vendor that allows it to publish any potential vulnerabilities it discovers.

In addition to the Trezor Safe 3, Trezor has also introduced its own physical private key storage solution, Trezor Keep Metal. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the safety of a seed phrase or a private key is far more important than the safety of a hardware wallet device itself, as users can restore access to the wallet even if a hardware wallet is lost or damaged.

Trezor Keep Metal has much in common with similar physical backup solutions in the market, allowing users to keep their recovery safe under any conditions against fire, water, acids and impacts. The backup tool is made from corrosion-resistant stainless steel with a watertight seal.

*Trezor Keep Metal backup tool. Source: Trezor*

According to Trezor CEO Matej Zak, Trezor Keep Metal is another important component of Trezor’s commitment to enhancing usability to boost global crypto adoption.

“It is very easy to use in the way that it is because all the other solutions usually have some kind of conversion so that you need some numbering system against the word,” Zak told Cointelegraph reporter Gareth Jenkinson in an interview.

“Whereas here, it’s very intuitive in a way that you just punch in the actual letter from the word onto the steel,” the CEO added.

Available for $99, Trezor Keep Metal allows users to store 12-word and 24-word standard backups. The Trezor Keep Metal catering for three 20-word Shamir backups sells for $249.

Finally, Trezor’s Bitcoin-only hardware wallet was released to mark the company’s anniversary, featuring a limited-edition run of only 2,013 devices. In recognition of Bitcoin’s ability to empower individuals in underprivileged and marginalized communities, Trezor will donate $21 from each sale to support the Trezor Academy, a Bitcoin education initiative, the announcement notes.

Founded in 2013, Trezor is one of the largest global providers of hardware wallets, allowing users to store cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Trezor’s first wallet, the Trezor One, was released in 2014 and is still for sale, offering the basic functionality of storing multiple coins long-term.

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CoinDCX exchange expands self-custody wallet to support 155 countries

October 5, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

With Transak’s integration, CoinDCX’s Okto wallet has increased the number of supported jurisdictions from 60 to more than 150.

Major Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX is expanding its self-custody wallet, Okto, by integrating major on-ramp platform Transak.

Okto, a multichain cryptocurrency wallet launched by CoinDCX in August 2022, has integrated the Transak platform to scale the wallet’s global support, the firm announced to Cointelegraph on Oct. 5. The integration is immediately available on Okto, the company said.

With the new integration, the Okto wallet has increased the number of previously supported 60 countries to 155 jurisdictions, CoinDCX and Okto co-founder Neeraj Khandelwal said.

By integrating Transak, Okto now specifically allows users to buy cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) directly on Okto, using a large number of fiat currencies, including the U.S. dollar, the euro, the Hong Kong dollar and others.

Transak is the first and currently the only on-ramp solution introduced on Okto, Khandelwal noted. Prior to this integration, the only way of sending crypto to Okto was by sending the digital currency from an external wallet like MetaMask, Khandelwal added, stating:

“The integration of Transak now allows users to seamlessly convert fiat to crypto right within the app. Prior to this integration, users had to transfer funds from another decentralized wallet, such as MetaMask.”

While Transak supports around 160 tokens, Okto allows users to store more than 1,000 tokens across multiple chains, including Polygon, Fantom, Avalanche and others, according to the app’s description on the App Store. However, according to Okto’s spokesperson, the wallet allows users to have up to 3,000 tokens in the wallet.

While Okto announced the news about Transak support on Oct. 5, the process of rolling out the on-ramp solution started a few months ago. Some online users in India reported having issues with Transak as early as August 2023 as Okto was testing the on-ramp solution. “The process of integrating began in April 2023,” a spokesperson for the firm told Cointelegraph, adding that the official rollout to all customers occurred in mid-September.

*Okto reporting working with Transak in August 2023. Source: X*

Transak is a global Web3 payment and onboarding infrastructure provider aiming to connect traditional finance and digital assets. It is a popular on-ramp solution in the cryptocurrency industry, with platforms like MetaMask, Coinbase and PancakeSwap utilizing its services.

Earlier this week, Transak announced an integration with The Open Network’s (TON) wallet known as Tonkeeper. The event marked Transak’s entry into the TON ecosystem, enabling the wallet to buy Toncoin (TON) directly with fiat from more than 150 countries.

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