KuCoin Wallet spins off from KuCoin exchange, renames as Halo Wallet

April 3, 2023 Coin Telegraph

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!

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
— Halo Wallet (@HaloDotSocial) April 3, 2023

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.

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).

BitKeep Wallet hits 10 million users driven by successful Arbitrum airdrop

April 3, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Airdrop

In March, the platform claimed to have successfully onboarded over 560,000 new users.

Decentralized multichain digital wallet solution BitKeep Wallet has announced that it has surpassed 10 million users as of April. The platform has seen tremendous growth in recent months, with over 560,000 new users onboarded in March alone. The surge in users can be attributed to several successful campaigns with popular blockchains like Arbitrum and Sui.

BitKeep's Arbitrum campaign saw the successful launch of ARBK. This native token recorded 708,800 on-chain transactions and was airdropped to over 100,000 users participating in campaign-related tasks and activities. During the campaign period, ARBK was exchangeable for ARB, the official native token of the Arbitrum chain, and ranked first on Arbitrum's ecosystem popularity chart with 150,000 token-holding addresses, with an interaction volume of 330,000.

Following BitKeep's recent success, cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Bitget has invested $30 million into the platform. As a result of the investment, BitKeep will be rebranded as Bitget Wallet but will continue to function as an independent entity both operationally and structurally. BitKeep will focus on building its ecosystem and independent tokenomics while protecting the rights and interests of existing BitKeepers and BKB holders during the transition process.

Goodbye, #BitKeep
Hello, #BitgetWallet

The moment has arrived After accepting a $30M investment from @bitgetglobal, we are revamping the brand, restructuring the management team and strengthening the overall security system.

Check our evolution #roadmap here

1/10 pic.twitter.com/CFSxOnnKjR
— BitKeep Wallet (@BitKeepOS) March 29, 2023

According to the announcement sent to Cointelegraph, BitKeep plans to continue expanding its Swap function by introducing new cross-chain support for Optimism and Conflux Space, as well as decentralized exchange aggregation support from Swappi, Camelot, and WOO Network. BitKeep has also set its sights on enhancing its range of products, with plans to explore MPC (multi-party computation) and AA (account abstraction). Additionally, the company shared that it is developing functionalities related to Web3 DID (decentralized identity) and is extending support for the zk-Rollup ecosystem.

On March 24, Cointelegraph reported that the recent Arbitrum (ARB) airdrop had garnered significant attention, as blockchain analysis platform Lookonchain reported that token hunters consolidated around $3.3 million worth of ARB into two wallets. The first wallet received 1.4 million ARB from 866 addresses, which were subsequently added to Uniswap for liquidity provision. This amount of ARB is currently valued at around $2 million. The second wallet received 933,375 ARB from 630 addresses, amounting to roughly $1.38 million. These consolidations suggest that some users are taking advantage of the airdrop by accumulating large amounts of ARB tokens.

We found 2 super airdrop hunters of $ARB.

0xe1e2 received 1.4M $ARB($1.92M) via 866 addresses and added all 1.4M $ARB to #Uniswap to provide liquidity.https://t.co/sncsZTHrP2

0xbd4e received 933,375 $ARB($1.28M) via 630 addresses.https://t.co/p5vbqXMYxD pic.twitter.com/yK3LzbeC8t
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) March 24, 2023

Bitgo Launches Storage and Tracking Solution for Bitcoin-Based Ordinal Inscriptions

March 31, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Crypto Hardware Wallet Maker Ledger Raises $100M Amid Growing Demand for Secure Storage Solutions

March 31, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Crypto wallet provider Ledger raises $109M as demand for self-custody soars

March 30, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Crypto wallet provider Ledger raises 9M as demand for self-custody soars

Coin Telegraph

The funding is the first of three rounds for the hardware wallet provider, whose success has been fueled by growing awareness of crypto self-custody.

Hardware wallet provider Ledger has raised 100 million euros ($109 million) in a Series C funding round extension, placing its valuation at 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion), in line with its previous funding in June 2021, Bloomberg reported on March 30. The funding is the first of three investment rounds.

As per the report, a second closing is due in April, followed by a third funding to take place at a later date, given "high investor interest." The capital will be used to expand the company's distribution network, increase production, and develop new products.

Ledger's new investors include VaynerFund, Cité Gestion SPV, True Global Ventures, and Digital Finance Group. Previous investors include Morgan Creek, Cathay Innovation, Draper Dragon, Cap Horn, among others.

Ledger is proud to announce our Series C extension fundraising round.

We continue our mission of bringing ease-of-use and uncompromised security to your digital value.

Read what our CEO @_pgauthier has to say:https://t.co/JSHyi5jKIQ pic.twitter.com/aGi2FhOXCs
— Ledger (@Ledger) March 30, 2023

In a recent interview with Cointelegraph at Paris Blockchain Week, Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier noted that the collapse of crypto exchanges and banks in recent months has raised the level of awareness about crypto self-custody. “Whenever the market gets stressed and whenever people fear for their savings, you know, they rush to crypto and to Ledger,” Gauthier noted.

Ledger reportedly had its best month of sales in November following the dramatic collapse of crypto exchange FTX. According to the company, revenue from Ledger Live's buy-and-sell crypto app has grown 200% in the past 12 months. Hardware wallet provider Trezor also benefited from FTX failure, reporting a 300% surge in sales revenue as a result of investors rescuing their funds.

Ledger claims to store more than 20% of crypto assets in circulation and 30% of the non-fungible tokens supply. Among recent moves, the company hired Tony Fadell, builder of the iPhone, to design a new version of its hardware wallet.

Prominent figures in the industry have also encouraged crypto self-custody. “Self custody is a fundamental human right. You are free to do it anytime. Just make sure you do it right,” Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said in November, advising investors to start small and learn the technology.

In-Chat Tether Transfers Introduced in Telegram

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MetaMask enables direct crypto purchases in Nigeria

March 21, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Crypto investors in Nigeria no longer need to rely on centralized exchanges for buying cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Self-custody cryptocurrency purchases are becoming easier in Nigeria as major crypto wallet MetaMask expands direct onramps with local banks.

MetaMask’s parent firm ConsenSys announced on March 21 a new integration with crypto fintech MoonPay, enabling users in Nigeria to purchase crypto via instant bank transfers.

The new feature is available within the MetaMask mobile and Portfolio Dapp, significantly simplifying the process of buying crypto without using credit or debit cards in Nigeria.

Before the partnership, MetaMask users in Nigeria had access to the MetaMask wallet but the process of buying crypto was costly and time consuming, MetaMask product manager Lorenzo Santos told Cointelegraph. He stated:

“While Moonpay had a card integration feature, about 90% of attempts to buy crypto with a credit or debit card were declined.”

With the new integration supporting local bank transfers, crypto purchases on MetaMask are now faster and cheaper, allowing users to access crypto without sending assets from a centralized exchange.

MoonPay chief product and strategy officer Zeeshan Feroz told Cointelegraph that the integration is estimated to reduce the decline rate for direct crypto purchases in Nigeria from 90% to 30%. He noted that customers of all banks in Nigeria will have access to the service through Bank Transfers, which is a widely used payment method across Nigerian e-commerce businesses.

Even despite the current issues with crypto onramps in Nigeria, the country has emerged as a major market for MetaMask, ranking third in mobile monthly active users, Santos said. “It is also among the top ten countries regarding visitors to metamask.io over the last month,” he added.

According to the Chainalysis 2022 Global Crypto Adoption Index, Nigeria is one of the world’s top 20 ranked countries in terms of cryptocurrency adoption. Some reports suggest that 35% of the Nigerian population aged 18 to 60 owned or traded cryptocurrencies in 2022. That is despite the Central Bank of Nigeria banning banks from servicing crypto exchanges in February 2021.

In December 2022, local media reported that the Nigerian government was preparing to pass a law that would recognize the usage of Bitcoin(BTC) and other cryptocurrencies as a means to keep up to date with “global practices.”

Microsoft Working on New Ethereum Wallet Amid Foray Into Crypto and NFTs: Report

March 19, 2023 The Daily Hodl

European Parliament votes to form final law on EU digital wallet

March 16, 2023 Coin Telegraph

CBDC

Introduced in 2021, the European Digital Identity framework aims to enable and protect digital identity of EU citizens.

European lawmakers are moving forward with the introduction of a European Union-wide digital wallet by passing a plenary vote on moving the initiative to interinstitutional negotiations.

The European Parliament on March 15 voted in favor of negotiating a mandate for talks with the EU member states on the revision of the new European Digital Identity (eID) framework, according to an official announcement. The plenary vote resulted in 418 votes in favor and 103 votes against the initiative, with 24 parliament members abstaining from the vote.

Following the plenary’s endorsement, the EU council is now ready to start the discussions on the final form of the legislation immediately, the lawmakers said. Parliament’s position during the negotiations will be based on the amendments adopted in the Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) in February, the announcement notes.

As previously reported, ITRE included the standard of zero-knowledge proofs in its eID amendments, intending to allow EU citizens to fully control their identity data.

“The scheme would allow citizens to identify and authenticate themselves online — via a European digital identity wallet — without having to resort to commercial providers, as is the case today — a practice that has raised trust, security and privacy concerns,” the European Parliament said.

Introduced in June 2021, the eID legislative proposal aims to create a “European Digital Identity” and a dedicated digital wallet for citizens and businesses in the EU. The “European Digital Identity Wallet,” also known as EDIW, aims to allow people and companies in the EU to store identity data like name and address as well as digitized documents, including data on bank accounts, birth certificates, diplomas and other documents for cross-border use.

Wallet

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