Kraken Joins Crypto Exchanges by Launching Self-Custody Digital Wallet
Summary:
Kraken, the crypto exchange, has joined the likes of Binance, OKX, Coinbase, Bitget, and Bybit by introducing its self-custody digital assets wallet. The multi-chain wallet supports eight blockchains including Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana. The app gathers minimal data, protects user activity through Kraken's infrastructure, features biometric technology and passwords for security, and has an open-source code. It allows exchanges of DeFi tokens, NFTs, and streamlines interactions with dApps. Developing self-custody wallets are becoming increasingly popular among exchanges due to tightening global regulations.
In a move echoing Binance, OKX, Coinbase, Bitget, and Bybit, Kraken the crypto exchange has launched its self-custody wallet for digital assets. The exchange staff noted that the multi-chain Kraken Wallet, accessible whether you're a Kraken customer or not, acts as a gateway to the world of decentralized finance. Presently, the wallet supports transactional capabilities for digital assets across eight blockchains, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL), Optimism, Base, Arbitrum, Polygon, and Dogecoin (DOGE). The developing team behind the Kraken Wallet App on iOS purports that the app only collects the bare minimum of requisite information to perform as a wallet, even forgoing the collection of internal app performance analytics. The company further emphasised its commitment to user privacy by stating that user activity is routed through Kraken’s own infrastructure, providing protection for the users' IP address and preventing external exposure of their identity or location information. The wallet has adopted mobile biometric technology and user password protection to boost its security, with its code audited by Trail of Bits. The wallet’s code is also open-source and accessible on GitHub. Among its functionalities, the wallet supports decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), facilitates interactions with decentralized applications (dApps) via Wallet Connect, and offers round-the-clock customer support. Eric Kuhn, Product Director for Kraken Wallet, stated that their investment in the wallet is aimed at maintaining the essence of permissionless financial access. Amid global regulations tightening around exchanges, many have pivoted towards the self-custody wallet sector. Last fall Kraken ceased support for several stablecoins such as Tether (USDT) and DAI for its Canadian customers, and on April 11, it also announced the cessation of support for the Monero privacy token for its Ireland and Belgium-based clients. As they do not traditionally process fiat money transactions, in many territories, self-custody wallets are not bound by the same regulations as money transmitting exchanges. The European Parliament on March 19 scrapped a 1,000 euro ($1,080) cap on payments from self-hosted crypto wallets as part of new Anti-Money Laundering laws, and on March 28, U.S. District Judge Katherine Failla decreed that Coinbase Wallet was "not a broker", hence exempt from SEC-imposed brokerage rules.
Published At
4/17/2024 9:03:22 PM
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