Shalini Nagarajan

David Canellis

Crypto wallet maker Ledger is rolling out its crypto debit card across the UK and Europe, as a string of scandals in the ecosystem spurs interest in self-custody solutions.



Ledger’s Crypto Life (CL) card allows users to move crypto between Ledger hardware wallets and card accounts via companion app Ledger Live.



While the card supports the French firm&#8217;s cold crypto wallets — which promote self-custody — CL is developed by London-based fintech Baanx, which states that “it’s not a bank” on its website.



Similar to other crypto cards already on offer, customers can earn 1% crypto rewards in bitcoin or USDT, or 2% in Baanx’s native token BXX, when funds are spent. Users can also receive paychecks denominated in bitcoin, ether or other stablecoins.



Lithuanian banking-as-a-service provider Contis Financial handles custody of all funds kept on the card. Baanx’s website states that Contis Financial is authorized by the Lithuanian central bank, however card funds will not be covered by the country’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme or Deposit Insurance System.



“No other compensation scheme exists to cover losses claimed in connection with the account and associated card,” Baanx says in an FAQ. “We will however ensure that any funds received by you are held in a segregated account so that should we become insolvent your funds will be protected against claims made by our creditors.”



Like Mastercard, Visa supports crypto cards issued by several companies including Coinbase and Binance. Binance’s branded <a href="https://www.binance.com/en/support/faq/how-does-binance-card-cashback-work-c93fe535bcf4431aa32623ae0a49d4f2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">card</a> is similar to Ledger’s — in fact it’s also managed by Contis — but the rewards are in BNB and held on the exchange.&nbsp;



Ledger card promotes self-custody, until it&#8217;s time to spend crypto



Ledger says it received over 400,000 waitlist signups for CL, after first announcing the program at the Ledger Op3n conference in Dec. 2021.&nbsp;



Customers can use their cards at some 90 million merchants and online stores accepting Mastercard across the UK and Europe. “We now have an easy and secure solution to pay with crypto that also allows you to self-custody until you want to top up,&#8221; said JF Rochet, vice president of international development at Ledger.



Ledger partner Baanx no doubt hopes adoption of the product might boost the price of its BXX token. The startup first sold BXX at $0.12 in an initial coin offering in 2019, with 56% of the supply designated for the public.



BXX now trades for about $0.012 — down 90% from its initial sale price and 97% below its $0.40 record last October. The token boasts a meagre market value of $430,000 after jumping about 25% Thursday morning, a few hours ahead of the press release embargo.



Crypto-compatible cards were also popular with ill-fated lending platforms Celsius, Voyager and BlockFi, with those products all directly threatened by their respective liquidity crises.



Ledger’s card differs slightly in that Ledger users can directly transfer crypto from cold storage for spending and back again — rather than from centralized entity to card. The firm <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/celsius-woes-spark-boom-in-ledger-sales" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">has claimed</a> that 20% of all digital assets are held on Ledger devices.



Sales for Ledger devices actually spiked following Celsius&#8217; collapse as crypto investors rethought who they trust with their assets. In an email to Blockworks, a Ledger spokesperson said: &#8220;We warn customers every time they top up that the funds are no longer self-custodied on their Ledger, so ideally they would top up what they need to use, when they need to use it.&#8221;



US-based Ledger users eager for a debit card will still have to wait a few months. A US rollout was earlier pegged for Q2 this year, however a spokesperson said it would arrive “in the coming months.” The US card will use Visa instead of Mastercard.



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Ledger Rolls Out ‘Crypto Life’ Debit Card Across UK and Europe

Ornella Hernandez

<div id="highlights-block_62b428b299fdd" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Ledger safeguards 20% of the world&#8217;s digital assets, the company says</li>
 <li>“We want to power the NFT revolution,” says Ledger CEO</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger <a href="https://www.ledger.com/blog/ledger-expands-nft-offering-ledger-market-is-coming-soon-enterprise-create-is-now-live" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> at NFT.NYC an expansion of security offerings as part of its NFT products and its Ledger Enterprise arm.&nbsp;



In response to growing security issues around cryptocurrency and digital assets, the company developed Ledger Market to be a multi-chain NFT (non-fungible token) distribution platform that prioritizes safe NFT mints, sales and storage. 



Launch partners include decentralized finance protocol Babylon, Tag Heuer of LVMH and the DeadFellaz NFT project, among others. Later this summer users may obtain the Ledger Market Pass, a Genesis NFT with access to exclusive collaborations, limited edition hardware and airdrops of art NFTs from Ledger’s artist-in-residence programs. 



Also announced in New York was Ledger Enterprise Create, an NFT management platform for brands to scale their Web3 operations. The goal is to provide end-to-end, creation-to-distribution security for fashion and luxury brands, charities and financial institutions. Ther offering will integrate with Ledger Market, as well as secure treasury management and smart contract creation and ownership capabilities.



When asked about the impact of the market downturn on the company, Ian Rogers, Ledger’s chief experience officer, told Blockworks in an email that sales “jumped 4.5x day-over-day on the Celsius news, and continue to be strong to this day.&#8221;



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">&#8220;Ledger is [now] doing, quarterly, the entire annual revenue of 2020.&#8221;</blockquote>



Rogers added that sales are highly correlated with outflows from exchanges because the more people get educated, the “more they come to value security and self-custody as a result.”&nbsp;



Education is part of Ledger’s mission. As part of a Web3 education initiative, the company also launched Ledger Quest, a learn-to-earn platform with gaming quests and NFT rewards for Web3 entrants. Additionally, the firm has partnered with NFT projects World of Women, Cool Cats and Deadfellaz to expand its materials on the Ledger Academy educational platform.



During the Ledger Op3n conference at NFT.NYC on Wednesday, Ledger’s CEO Pascal Gauthier compared a hardware wallet to a smartphone, calling it a “critical digital device” when it comes to interacting safely with the digital asset ecosystem.



He also revealed on stage that nearly a third of NFT marketplace OpenSea’s trading volume involves a Ledger customer as a buyer, seller or both. And 45% of the top 100 transactions ever on OpenSea involved a Ledger-secured Ethereum wallet.



Additionally, he touted the use of clear-signing for NFTs, as opposed to blind-signing “where you don’t even know where you’re sending your NFTs to.”



Recently, the firm added <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/cryptos-future-is-self-custody-dealing-blow-to-exchanges-ledger-vp-says/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a crypto wallet extension</a> on Safari in beta called Ledger Connect. Users can link their Nano X to confirm transactions, and Connect will warn users of bad actors or flagged scams, as well as reveal a user’s resulting balance prior to validation.



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Celsius’ Woes Spark Boom in Ledger Sales

Sebastian Sinclair

<div id="highlights-block_6283b12b5c0e0" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Robinhood is planning to develop a new digital wallet catered toward Web3 activity and functionality</li>
 <li>It&#8217;s a significant step for the stock trading app which only initially allowed its users to hold crypto within its ecosystem</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Stock trading platform Robinhood said it plans to develop a new digital Web3 wallet that will enable users, for the first time, to store their NFTs as well as connect them to online marketplaces.



In a press release on Tuesday, the platform said its new non-custodial &#8220;Robinhood 3&#8221; wallet would allow users to hold the keys for their own crypto, earn yield and trade or swap crypto, including NFTs (non-fungible tokens), without network fees. Commissions on transactions will also not be charged, the company said.



Co-founder and CEO of Robinhood Vlad Tenev speaking at Blockwork&#8217;s Permissionless event in West Palm Beach, Florida on Tuesday said the aim was to simplify the often &#8220;clunky&#8221; and &#8220;cumbersome&#8221; design featured in decentralized finance, Web3 and non-custodial wallets.



&#8220;There&#8217;s got to be a way to get all the security and privacy benefits of self custody with the low-cost simplicity and mobile-first design that you&#8217;re accustomed to with TradFi products,&#8221; Tenev said before playing a promotional video of Robinhood&#8217;s wallet to a live audience.



The move marks a significant step for the trading app which previously only allowed users to buy and hold cryptoassets within their Robinhood trading accounts. In February 2021, <a href="https://twitter.com/RobinhoodApp/status/1362143073510121472?s=20&amp;t=gmwdpfswJAPLdcO3ArmPVA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the app flagged</a> interest in enabling transfers off its platform amid heightened interest in crypto.



Robinhood eventually caved to public demand, creating a beta version of their first digital wallet — revealed in September — that was initially eligible to <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/robinhood-deploys-beta-crypto-wallets-allowing-select-customers-to-transfer-off-platform/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1,000 customers</a> in January. That figure has since ballooned to <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/robinhood-opens-crypto-wallet-service-to-2-million-more-users/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">two million users</a> following a large waitlist.



The functionality of that wallet is currently limited to seven assets including bitcoin, bitcoin cash, bitcoin sv, dogecoin, ether, ether classic and litecoin.



“At Robinhood, we believe that crypto is more than just an asset class,” said Tenev in the release. &#8220;Our web3 wallet will make it easier for everyone to hold their own keys and experience all the opportunities that the open financial system has to offer.”



While Tenev&#8217;s statement makes it clear Robinhood&#8217;s stance on crypto has changed in recent years a reason for its two-pronged crypto wallet approach was not given.



Blockworks attempted to contact Robinhood on that point but did not receive a reply by press time.



Similar to the initial run of its crypto wallet, the app&#8217;s latest Web3 wallet will become available to select customers on a waitlist who will join its Beta program sometime this summer.



Robinhood also said it plans to make the product generally available to all of its customers by year&#8217;s end.



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Robinhood To Build Web3 Wallet in Bid To Capture NFT Hype

<div id="highlights-block_624a3801ea639" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Trezor said Saturday its newsletter had been breached by an &#8220;insider targeting crypto companies&#8221;</li>
 <li>The domain linked to the breach, ending in the extension .us, has since been taken down, the provider said</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Cryptocurrency hardware wallet provider Trezor said Saturday it was investigating a data breach of its opt-in newsletter hosted on marketing platform MailChimp.



A scam email warning of a breach began circulating last week, according to <a href="https://twitter.com/BitcoinUndisc/status/1510419050182193155?s=20&amp;t=OjLsoEmQ57LLJbPRig4NTA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">affected users</a>. Trezor then sent a warning via <a href="https://twitter.com/Trezor/status/1510548489884815361?s=20&amp;t=6Trf0ek4sukiiyD2cFGbpw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Twitter</a> asking its users not to open emails originating from the phishing domain &#8220;noreply@trezor.us.&#8221; 



Users took to social media to warn against the scam email impersonating Trezor and its security team, which prompted victims to download the &#8220;latest version of Trezor Suite&#8221; and change their wallet PIN.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true"><a href="https://twitter.com/Trezor?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Trezor</a> Just got an email from “noreply@trezor.us” targeting TrezorSuite users. If you got similar, DO NOT ACT upon it. <a href="https://t.co/4cldJ46o3N">pic.twitter.com/4cldJ46o3N</a>&mdash; pbnather (@pbnather) <a href="https://twitter.com/pbnather/status/1510506712612184068?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



The provider has since managed to take down multiple phishing domains targeting users including Trezor.us, according to a <a href="https://twitter.com/Trezor/status/1510558771944333312" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">follow-up tweet</a> on Sunday.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">&#8220;MailChimp has confirmed that their service has been compromised by an insider targeting crypto companies,&#8221; Trezor said. &#8220;We have managed to take the phishing domain offline. We are trying to determine how many email addresses have been affected.&#8221;</blockquote>



The company also said it would not communicate via its newsletter until the situation is resolved.



Questions have been <a href="https://twitter.com/CryptoShine/status/1510680599614394376?s=20&amp;t=R-0PAyuIpiHEbVXfEhhFYw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">raised</a> by the community, wondering why the provider had not already registered top-level domains (TLD) including extensions .us, .net, and .com to prevent such attacks.



Still, <a href="https://twitter.com/0fab1e/status/1510697668946718720?s=20&amp;t=R-0PAyuIpiHEbVXfEhhFYw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">some argue</a> hackers could easily circumvent TLD registration by imitating the domain name and changing a single character, such as &#8220;Trez0r,&#8221; to dupe victims.



Trezor did not immediately respond to Blockworks&#8217; request for comment.



This type of attack does not represent a threat to the cryptographic security of the hardware wallet, nor is it the first example of a crypto wallet firm being targeted. Rival hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger suffered a data leak of its marketing database <a href="https://www.ledger.com/addressing-the-july-2020-e-commerce-and-marketing-data-breach" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">in July 2020</a>, which resulted in its users being the target of phishing attacks and other forms of fraud.



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Hardware Wallet Provider Trezor Targeted in Phishing Attack

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_61cd8f04064bd" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Phantom saw a 4,400% increase from 40,000 users in July to 1.8 million users in December</li>
 <li>Its mobile application is aiming for an iOS launch at the end of January or first week of February, Milman said</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Solana-focused crypto wallet Phantom is looking to onboard a lot more users and is aiming to have more than 10 million weekly active users in 2022, Brandon Millman, co-founder and CEO of Phantom told Blockworks.&nbsp;



“Somewhere in the 10 [million] to 50 [million] range is what we’re shooting for,” Millman said. “It’s really hard to say where exactly it’s going to land, especially because the macro crypto environment is such a huge factor as well,” he added.&nbsp;



For reference, Phantom was undergoing beta testing in April 2021 and saw a 4,400% increase from 40,000 users in July to 1.8 million users in December. Phantom hit 1 million users in November and at the end of December, its weekly active user count reached about 1.8 million, Millman said.



In July, Phantom closed a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/andreessen-horowitz-leads-9m-series-a-round-for-crypto-wallet-phantom/">$9 million Series A</a> round led by Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z. Millman said there has been a lot of interest from investors since then, but there are no additional funding rounds to announce at this time.&nbsp;



<h3>Shifting its mindset to support Solana users&nbsp;</h3>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright size-medium"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="214" height="300" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Brandon-Millman-1-214x300.jpg" alt="Brandon Millman" class="wp-image-13320" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Brandon-Millman-1-214x300.jpg?w=214 214w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Brandon-Millman-1-214x300.jpg?w=732 732w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Brandon-Millman-1-214x300.jpg?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Brandon-Millman-1-214x300.jpg?w=1097 1097w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Brandon-Millman-1-214x300.jpg?w=1463 1463w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Brandon-Millman-1-214x300.jpg?w=184 184w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Brandon-Millman-1-214x300.jpg?w=186 186w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Brandon-Millman-1-214x300.jpg?w=156 156w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Brandon-Millman-1-214x300.jpg?w=57 57w" sizes="(max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px" /><figcaption>Brandon Millman, co-founder and CEO, Phantom; Source: Phantom</figcaption></figure></div>



The three co-founders, Millman, CPO Chris Kalani and CTO Francesco Agosti all left their roles at 0x, an open protocol crypto infrastructure startup, to create Phantom in the Spring of 2021.



“We were quite deep in the Ethereum space and we really wanted to create a MetaMask competitor,” Millman said. “We had a lot of ideas on how to make the wallet part of Web3 better,” he added.&nbsp;



The original goal was to create a multi-chain version of MetaMask with a focus on DeFi and NFTs, but as the Phantom team saw extreme growth, they’ve shifted their mindset to supporting Solana and making it the best option for Solana wallet users, Millman said. Wallet users can store, send, receive, stake and swap tokens on the Solana blockchain.



Additionally, non-fungible tokens saw exponential growth this year, which contributed to Phantom&#8217;s success because it allows wallet holders to trade and hold Solana-based NFTs, through NFT marketplaces like Solanart. Although Solanart is one of many NFT marketplaces that Phantom connects to, it has had 541,851 total sales with a total SOL volume of 4,532,922, which is about $797,794,272, according to its <a href="https://solanart.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">website</a>.&nbsp;



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="169" height="300" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Image-from-iOS-1-169x300-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-13332" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Image-from-iOS-1-169x300-1.jpg?w=169 169w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Image-from-iOS-1-169x300-1.jpg?w=576 576w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Image-from-iOS-1-169x300-1.jpg?w=144 144w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Image-from-iOS-1-169x300-1.jpg?w=147 147w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Image-from-iOS-1-169x300-1.jpg?w=123 123w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Image-from-iOS-1-169x300-1.jpg?w=45 45w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Image-from-iOS-1-169x300-1.jpg?w=750 750w" sizes="(max-width: 169px) 100vw, 169px" /><figcaption>Phantom&#8217;s mobile app in beta; Source: Phantom</figcaption></figure></div>



Despite enormous growth, the desktop browser-based crypto wallet has no plans to slow down. In addition to expanding to over 10 million users, the company is working on finishing up its mobile applications for iOS and Android, Blockworks previously <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/phantom-wallet-launches-mobile-version-to-bring-solana-to-smartphones/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.&nbsp;



Phantom’s mobile application is currently in beta testing and although it doesn’t have an exact launch date yet, it is aiming for an iOS launch at the end of January or the first week of February, Milman said. Its Android application would follow shortly after.&nbsp;



“The long-term vision is if someone wants to use a blockchain-based application, or dApp, their first instinct to be able to get access to the application should be to download Phantom,” Millman said.&nbsp;



“Very similar to how, if you’re on a laptop, and you want to go to Twitter, your first instinct is to go on a browser. That’s the long-term goal and for that goal to be realized, we do need to be able to support different networks and different blockchains that people are using, so that’s the goal we’re moving toward,” he said.



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Solana-focused Wallet Phantom Hits 1.8M Users but Aims Much Higher for 2022

Sam Reynolds

<div id="highlights-block_612e77f34b15b" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>MetaMask says it has grown by 19x since July 2020</li>
 <li>Other non-custodial wallets like Phantom have also seen similar exponential growth as more users explore DeFi as an investment alternative</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



As the total value locked in decentralized finance (DeFi) comes close to the <a href="https://defipulse.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$90 billion</a> mark, MetaMask, the most popular wallet used by traders in the DeFi ecosystem, has reported that it has passed the 10 million mark of monthly active users, up from just over 500,000 a year ago.&nbsp;



“MetaMask defined a new kind of cryptocurrency wallet, where users don&#8217;t just interact with currencies, but with decentralized applications, and we are constantly making these new kinds of applications more safe and accessible to a broader audience,” said Dan Finlay, MetaMask Co-Founder. “We&#8217;re letting users explore new ways of establishing trust on the internet.”



Part of the appeal of MetaMask is that it functions as a browser add-on, allowing integration with DeFi protocols and dApps on the web. Furthermore, with MetaMask, users are always in control of their assets. Their keys are always under their control on their PC, so a situation like what happened with QuadrigaCX — where the <a href="https://www.investmentexecutive.com/news/industry-news/not-your-keys-not-your-coins-lessons-from-quadrigacx-fraud/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">founder absconded with the keys</a> and thus the assets of the exchange — can’t happen.&nbsp;



Given <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/why-asia-is-becoming-the-natural-home-of-decentralized-finance/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DeFi’s appeal in Asia</a>, MetaMask reported that Asia is the number one region in terms of users’ growth, followed by Europe and North America. Within Asia, the Philippines, Vietnam, China, India, Indonesia and Thailand led for the number of downloads and active users. MetaMask’s growth story is shared by other wallets in the industry.



Speaking to Blockworks, the CEO of Phantom, a non-custodial wallet startup, said that their platform is about to break 100,000 MAUs. Since its launch four months ago it has already gotten to a point where there are already 1 million transactions a month though through the wallet. 



“There’s two predominant umbrellas: DeFi and NFTs, which have exploded over the past year and a half or so. There’s no sign of slowing down as long as people are discovering these apps and becoming comfortable with them,” Brandon Millman, CEO of Phantom, told Blockworks. “These applications are going to become more and more popular and there will be more of them and the wallet is a window into all of them.”



Millman believes that the only thing holding back further adoption of DeFi and NFTs are expensive gas fees — something that<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ethereums-role-in-a-multi-chain-future/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> many new blockchain protocols</a> are trying to solve.



“NFTs are just getting started&#8230;Even within the US there’s a huge number of people who don’t interact with them at all because they’re so expensive, but despite that, you&#8217;re still seeing a lot of growth,” he told Blockworks. “With the advent of blockchain tech that’s faster and cheaper, you’ll see more and more people buying NFTs and trading them. From a consumer perspective, it has a lot of room to grow from the NFT trader and publisher perspective.”



But non custodial wallets aren’t for everyone.



Some investors would not feel comfortable having their millions tied to a browser plugin. This isn’t a bad thing per se, rather it shows the strength of retail interest in DeFi.&nbsp;



Eric Ervin, CEO of Blockforce Capital, added that he’s seeing “incredible demand” from investors looking to get exposure to DeFi, so much so that his company has put together a fund with DeFi ecosystem Vesper Finance to give users that don’t want to install wallets and prefer to get exposure via a more traditional fund subscription, a chance to get exposure to DeFi.&nbsp;



“We believe this will act as an onramp to significant adoption from investors who have yet to approach – and benefit from – the decentralized ecosystem,&#8221; he said.



At this time, MetaMask doesn’t have a token like that Binance or FTX has, but is willing to explore one should there be a &#8220;compelling use case&#8221; for it. These tokens, like BNB or FTX, are utility tokens but are also used by investors as a proxy for a public listing.



Want more investor-focused content on digital assets?&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/digital-asset-summit-2021-2/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us</a>&nbsp;September 13th and 14th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) in NYC. Use code ARTICLE for $75 off your ticket.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/digital-asset-summit-2021-2/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Buy it now</a>.

MetaMask Growth Shows DeFi Cruising Into Mainstream

<div id="highlights-block_610045ce9264e" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The new funds will be used to further develop the product and educational content necessary to acclimate people to using cryptocurrencies. </li>
 <li>A handful of other companies announced new funding today, including Fireblocks, Ero, Saber Labs and Hedgehog Markets </li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Open-source blockchain ecosystem Celo announced its digital wallet Valora will now operate as an independent company amidst the close of a $20 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).



Celo focuses on making decentralized financial (DeFi) systems and tools accessible to anyone with a smartphone. The mobile-based digital wallet Valora will now be a standalone company on the Celo Platform, which provides users the ability to quickly save, send and spend cryptocurrencies.



The wallet will enable payments in seconds with near zero fees, Arianna Simpson, a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/AriannaSimpson/status/1420047377625460746" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tweet</a>.



Additional investors in the round include Polychain Capital, SV Angel, Nima Capital, NFX and Valor Capital, among others.



Valora publicly launched in February 2021 and has grown to more than 200,000 users with a balance and 53,000 monthly active users in over 100 countries, the company said.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The new funds will be used to further develop the product and educational content necessary to acclimate people to using cryptocurrencies.&nbsp;



Similarly, analysts said digital payments companies such as Square are in a position to steal major market share from traditional banks over the next decade, as crypto services are driving engagement for such businesses, Blockworks recently <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/mizuho-securities-digital-wallets-poised-to-disrupt-traditional-banks-over-next-decade/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



Cash App, a service developed by Square, could become the “money center bank of the future,” according to research by Mizuho Securities.



“Consumer awareness of crypto has never been higher, and yet many people remain on the sidelines, either due to skepticism or lack of access,” said Jackie Bona, who is taking on the role of CEO of Valora after serving as head of consumer growth of cLabs, Inc. (cLabs).



As it stands, Valora gives users the ability to send funds to virtually any mobile phone number globally using any smartphone — even with low internet connectivity — which eliminates the need for reliance on a computer or high-speed internet.&nbsp;



Additionally, users can participate without traditional bank accounts, have full control over their funds and pay for transaction fees with the stable token instead of needing to hold two separate digital assets, the company said.&nbsp;



“Valora is lowering the barrier to entry into crypto and DeFi. We believe in a world in which each individual has access to the wealth and opportunity created by this new global financial system, and Valora will strive to continue to provide greater access and build bridges to a better and more inclusive future,” Bona said.&nbsp;



Other companies also have plans to launch new wallets to help fix the digital wallet space. In September, crypto venture studio Thesis plans to launch its fifth studio project, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-venture-studio-thesis-raises-21m-and-plans-to-launch-new-wallet/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a Web3 wallet</a>, to the public, CEO Matt Luongo said to Blockworks. The project began because Thesis saw a gap in wallet experiences and wanted to create a better experience and infrastructure for crypto-based wallets.



“The wallet ecosystem is a wreck. This has been a theme since 2014,” he said. People want a cross-chain experience that makes sense with decentralized finance across their wallets, so they don’t have to constantly work with a bunch of applications to do basic single wallet activity, Luongo said.



<h3>Crypto fundraising continues</h3>



The Valora funding news arrives during a busy day in the crypto fundraising space as a handful of other companies, including Fireblocks, Eco and Saber Labs, announced new funding, Blockworks <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/funding-news-fireblocks-eco-and-saber-labs-all-raise-millions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. 



In addition to those companies above, Hedgehog Markets closed a $3.5 million seed funding round today with investors including Reciprocal Ventures, Republic Labs, Alameda Research, Divergence Ventures, MGNR and Manna. The company also received a $100,000 grant from the Solana Foundation earlier this year.&nbsp;



Hedgehog Markets is a decentralized prediction market platform built on the Solana blockchain that allows users to generate passive yield on their funds while participating in markets, it said. Markets can be a range of topics from politics and economics to decentralized finance and so on. The trades are instant via smart contracts and allow users to complete transactions without a central intermediary.&nbsp;



“We believe conditions are ripe for innovation in this space,” said Srikar Varadaraj, Partner at e^{i} Ventures, the venture studio behind Hedgehog. “Users are seeking alternative ways to engage with decentralized applications beyond simply moving assets around for yield. Prediction markets stand to become an increasingly popular product for users with the rise of DeFi, as financial assets move at the speed of information in a permissionless world.”



The funding will be used to propel its mainnet launch, which is currently in open beta, before Q4, bring on additional talent, and continue toward development milestones. Once launched, it will be the first prediction markets platform on Solana mainnet, according to the company.&nbsp;



With the completion of its seed round, Hedgehog will be able to accelerate team growth, product development and go-to-market, said the company’s founder George Yu.&nbsp;



“We are building, and have always built, with the long-term in mind; we aim to be the most user-friendly platform not just for crypto users, but also for non-crypto users, and drive mainstream adoption of Hedgehog. The next step on that journey is our mainnet launch,” Yu said.

a16z Leads $20M Series A for Digital Wallet Valora

<div id="highlights-block_60fff6c7cad46" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Digital asset platform Fireblocks raised $310 million in Series D funding</li>
 <li>Saber Labs raised $7.7 million in funding and in the past week-and-a-half its TVL increased 2,200% from $5 million to $115 million, the highest increase of any Solana application, CEO Dylan Macalinao said</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Today, Fireblocks, Eco and Saber Labs announced new funding rounds with plans to focus on hiring, wallet development and expansion, building relationships with traditional financial institutions and more.



Here’s a rundown of the headlines:&nbsp;



<h3>Fireblocks boosts unicorn status with new funding and $2 billion valuation</h3>



Digital asset platform Fireblocks raised $310 million in Series D funding, just four months after its <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/fireblocks-raises-133m-to-scale-custody-platform-double-headcount/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">last</a> $133 million Series C round, the company said in a statement.&nbsp;



Sequoia Capital, Stripes, Spark Capital, Coatue, DRW VC and SCB 10X co-led the round alongside <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/thailands-siam-commercial-bank-investing-in-defi-to-prepare-for-an-era-of-disintermediation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Siam Commercial Bank</a>, Thailand’s oldest bank.



Siam Commericial Bank is the third bank to invest in Fireblocks in addition to BNY Mellon and SVB Capital.&nbsp;



To date, Fireblocks has transferred over $1 trillion in digital assets. The company’s client base has grown 400% —&nbsp; from serving 100 financial institutions in the beginning of the year to about 500 companies by June.&nbsp;



“A lot of it is due to the extended growth of the sector, new businesses being set up and traditional businesses coming in, while the existing players are scaling up,” CEO Michael Shaulov told Blockworks in an interview.&nbsp;



Shaulov said the funding will be used to allocate more talent, work with bigger banks and financial institutions to “enable new use cases and bring more data assets to blockchain, whether it’s payment domains, stablecoins or digital securities,” in addition to advising and providing <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/fireblocks-takes-aim-at-worlds-biggest-banks-with-crypto-com-integration/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">technology</a> for traditional institutions.&nbsp;



Financial technology and banks are joining forces in pursuing the cryptocurrency space in a “gradual progress,” Shaulov said, because these institutions are all trying to become digital asset enabled businesses and they’re afraid they’ll miss an opportunity.&nbsp;



“For them, it’s an opportunity to even the playing field with some of their competitors and try to enter earlier. We have seen banks on the high-end of the market and mid-sized banks that are digital friendly establishing (their place). The groups that are more active are on the sideline coming in,” he said.&nbsp;



<h3>Digital wallet Eco raises $60 million in funding&nbsp;</h3>



Activant Capital and L Catterton co-led the most recent fundraising round for Eco, a few months after the company raised $26 million in a round led by a16z in March.&nbsp;



The company has begun onboarding some of the 180,000 people on the waitlist for its digital wallet via one-to-one sessions. However, CEO Andy Bromberg would not disclose the exact number to Blockworks during an interview.



“Finances are a personal matter and it’s a really big personal decision and a lot of FinTech products have tried to get as many people on board as possible and our approach is more measured here,” by doing one-on-one sessions with users, Bromberg said. “We’re willing to commit the time and energy to do that.”



The funding will help accelerate its product roadmap to consolidate financial tools into a single wallet, the company said. “Everything is quote-end-quote ‘smart’ in today’s world: smart cars, smart fridges, smart doorbells, smart everything and yet, the financial system is still dumb,” Bromberg said.&nbsp;



“It’s using old technology that&#8217;s disconnected from all the innovation that happened in the last decade or two and it hasn’t changed,” he added. “We’ve got prettier applications built on top of it, but the fundamental technology, infrastructure and alignment hasn’t changed.&nbsp;



The company is focusing on it’s “Smart Money” strategy, a promise to consumers to deliver financial services on a better infrastructure, alignment and product, which in this case &#8212; is having the product on USDC on the Ethereum blockchain, Bromberg told Blockworks.&nbsp;



“We think it’s time for ‘Smart Money’ and there will be more after us and that’s something we’re extremely supportive of because we think the world deserves better financial services,” he said.&nbsp;



<h3>Saber Labs raises $7.7 million led by Race Capital&nbsp;</h3>



Saber Labs, a contributor to Saber, a cross-chain stablecoin exchange on Solana, announced it has secured $7.7 million in a seed round led by Race Capital, marking the first fundraising round for the lab founded by brothers Dylan and Ian Macalinao.&nbsp;



Other investors include Chamath Palihapitya’s Social Capital, Jump Capital, Multicoin Capital, Solana Foundation, in addition to other crypto industry people from FTX, Okcoin, Curve, Terra and Stacks.



The funding will be used to hire new talent, develop marketing and business strategies and expand product development to support every major chain, specifically Polygon and Celo, Dylan Macalinao, co-founder and CEO of Saber Labs, said in an email to Blockworks. It currently supports assets from Ethereum, Terra, Solana and Bitcoin, he said.&nbsp;



Saber has seen extensive growth since its beta launch last month, attracting over $100 million in exchange liquidity. It has since become the fourth-largest application on Solana in terms of total value locked (TVL). In the past week-and-a-half Saber’s TVL increased 2,200% from $5 million to $115 million, which is the highest of any Solana application, Macalinao said.&nbsp;



“We expect Saber TVL to continue to rapidly increase as more projects integrate with Saber’s deep on-chain liquidity,” Macalinao said.&nbsp;



The company focuses on helping users trade digital assets quickly and efficiently through the Solana blockchain and the funds will be used to expand its decentralized liquidity network beyond its current assets originated from Solana, Bitcoin, Ethereum and Terra, the company said.&nbsp;



Decentralized assets from one blockchain can’t natively exist on another, so stablecoins offer an easier way to trade tokens on different platforms and exchange values across the ecosystem, the company said.&nbsp;



“Long term, because Saber will have the best liquidity for transferring between cross-chain assets, we see the exchange being touched by every user moving-in-and-out of Solana, which will scale directly with Solana’s growth as a DeFi and Web3 blockchain,” Macalinao said.

Funding News: Fireblocks, Eco and Saber Labs Raise Millions

<div id="highlights-block_60eee6cd73d44" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The company has gained about 40,000 users since its beta launch in April 2021 and secured $500,000 in grants from Serum and Solana during that three-month time period, which will be used towards hiring and product development</li>
 <li>The company only supports Solana blockchain right now, but will expand to the Ethereum wallet by fall of this year and later on will expand to Ethereum Layer 2 platforms</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Venture Capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z, led a $9 million Series A funding round for Phantom, a multi-chain crypto wallet and browser extension for managing digital assets and accessing decentralized apps.



The round included funding from Variant Fund, Jump Capital, DeFi Alliance, and Solana Foundation, Phantom announced in a statement on Wednesday. It also included participation from Garry Tan, an early Coinbase investor, among other angel investors from Compound, dYdX, Audius, Lolli, and Ethereum Foundation.&nbsp;



This announcement is the latest investment led by Andreessen Horowitz, after the firm launched a $2.2 <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/andreessen-horowitz-launches-2-2b-crypto-fund/">billion crypto fund</a> in late June and said the money would be invested in crypto networks and the founders and teams currently being built within the digital assets space, Blockworks previously reported.



With the new funds, Phantom will continue to build its team, develop new platform features, and expand to other blockchains, it said.&nbsp;



Phantom’s goal is to provide a multi-chain crypto wallet for decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), that’s accessible and easy to use for both crypto beginners and seasoned enthusiasts, it said.&nbsp;



The company has gained about 40,000 users since its beta launch in April 2021 and secured $500,000 in grants from Serum and Solana during that three-month time period, which will be used towards hiring and product development, said CEO Brandon Millman in an interview with Blockworks.&nbsp;



The round closed at the end of May but was not publicly announced until today. Additionally, there were no other fundraising rounds prior to this one and no valuation is currently available, Millman said.&nbsp;



“Once we start expanding to other networks, users will be able to use one wallet to interact with decentralized applications across all supported networks,” so users won’t have to install and set up a new wallet for every chain, Millman said.&nbsp;



The company only supports Solana blockchain right now, but will expand to the Ethereum wallet by fall of this year and later on will expand to Ethereum Layer 2 such as Polygon and Optimism, Millman said.&nbsp;



“The wallets and bridges currently available are preventing users from moving digital assets from one blockchain to another without third-party assistance, resulting in decreased usage and fragmented participation across the DeFi ecosystem,” Millman said.&nbsp;



While the DeFi industry is complex, Phantom hopes to lower the barrier to entry by providing users an easy-to-use interface and helping guide new users through the onboarding process.



“We are moving to more and more of a multi-chain world. As demand for blockspace increases, more supply is needed to satisfy it,” Millman said.&nbsp;



With that said, the global hardware wallet market is growing. The market was valued at $202.4 million in 2020 and is expected to reach $795.32 valuation by 2026, according to a <a href="https://www.reportlinker.com/p06067784/Global-Hardware-Wallet-Market-Growth-Trends-COVID-19-Impact-and-Forecasts.html?utm_source=GNW">report</a> titled “Global Hardware Wallet Market &#8211; Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 &#8211; 2026).” Companies producing these wallets are experiencing an exponential increase in demand as the number of people owning multiple cryptocurrencies also has increased, the report said.&nbsp;



“We&#8217;re entering the next phase of decentralized computing, and Phantom is an important part of that story,” said Garry Tan, an early investor in Coinbase. “Great user experience for interfacing with digital assets and decentralized applications is the missing link.”