Cointelegraph interviewed the CTO of Ledger, Charles Guillemet, to learn more about the best practices in securing cryptocurrencies for average users. Ledger is a major producer of hardware wallets, which store cryptocurrency seeds on a dedicated device. As Guillemet explained, hardware wallets protect against possible malware on the user’s computer or mobile device. Both storage and transaction signing are performed on the wallet, which makes sure that the seed is never seen by the device it’s connected to. Ledger uses a chip based on Secure Element technology, which he says is an ideal protection against physical tampering. Recent moves by …

Despite once ranking as the fourth-most popular app in Venezuela, pioneering crypto wallet provider BRD, formerly BreadWallet, attributes its success in the country to local demand for crypto assets. Speaking with Cointelegraph on the topic of BRD’s success in Venezuela, CEO Adam Traidman stated that local demand for crypto assets has been the principal driver of the app’s popularity in the country. “In all honesty, I would love to be able to tell you it was a result of our brilliant marketing team and great advertising strategies and all that — it was none of those things,” he said. “At …

Crypto key management platform, Torus, has launched its non-custodial key management solution DirectAuth — enabling streamlined log-in experiences for web3 applications. DirectAuth builds on top of the Torus Wallet, which facilitates one-click logins for decentralized applications, or dapps. The addition of DirectAuth allows persistent logged-in action, streamlining transactions and signing from within a single app. DirectAuth utilizes multi-party computation, or MPC, for distributed key generation. Users can also send ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens to Google emails, Reddit usernames, or Discord IDs through Torus. Torus wants to streamline Web3 experiences Speaking to Cointelegraph, Torus co-founder Zhen Yu Yong emphasized Torus’ desire …

A new platform says it is “rapidly maximizing the value of blockchain services” for consumers and businesses alike. Go Base, which is due to launch on May 25, specializes in helping blockchain content providers to focus more on developing and launching services. The company’s goal is to make blockchain services secure and easy to understand for users, helping to achieve a thriving, innovative environment with substantial amounts of users. According to the platform, a major opportunity out there centers on blockchain-based gaming, allowing players to permanently own in-game assets, use them in other titles, and even sell them on a …

Bitcoin (BTC) wallets with a positive address have crossed 30 million for the first time — but less than 1% contain even 10 BTC. According to the latest data from monitoring resource Bitinfocharts, a wallet balance of 10 BTC — or around $91,000 at today’s prices — is enough to place the holder in the top 0.51% of addresses. 97.3% of Bitcoin wallets hold under 1 BTC Balances of 10-100 BTC make up 0.45% of the total, while even wallets between 1-10 BTC contribute just 2.17%. While it should be assumed that individuals’ holdings are often spread between multiple wallets, …

Blockchain.com, a major cryptocurrency wallet and blockchain data provider, plans to support Russia’s national currency, the ruble (RUB). Although some big exchanges like Binance have introduced the Russian ruble, there is still no law authorizing circulation of crypto in Russia. On May 20, Blockchain.com announced its long-term roadmap, “The next era of crypto and 1B wallets by 2030.” In a post authored by Peter Smith, Blockchain.com CEO and co-founder, the firm outlined the addition of the Russian ruble as part of its mission to grow its current user base of about 50 million crypto wallets to 1 billion accounts by …

The cryptocurrency wallet of major cryptocurrency exchange Huobi now allows users to buy cryptocurrencies with credit and debit cards. Until now, Huobi Wallet only allowed its users to exchange between different crypto assets and access to decentralized lending, while lacking a fiat onramp. Huobi Wallet CEO Will Huang said that now the applications provides for most of the basic needs of simple crypto users: “[The app] has become a one-stop app for users to buy, store, swap and transfer crypto on the go, while retaining complete control of their assets.” Huobi Wallet is purportedly one of the largest applications of …

After raising $40 million to fund its blockchain platform, Celo’s cLabs announced the launch of Mainnet, the next step of allowing transfers of its Celo Gold tokens. In a Medium blog posted on May 19, Celo said transfers of Celo Gold (cGLD), an ERC-20 token, are now enabled via on-chain governance, meaning exchanges are free to integrate with the platform. The company thanked the “commitment, passion, expertise, and engagement of over 100 independent validators around the world” for making the network possible. Celo raised $30 million in 2019 Cointelegraph reported that The Celo Foundation raised $10 million for the network …

CLabs has raised $10 million for its blockchain platform Celo in a dutch auction on CoinList on May 12. The auction sold out within 12 hours, with Celo Gold (cGLD) tokens selling for roughly $1 each. Token holders will be able to participate on the Celo platform. 509 purchasers from 62 countries participated in the auction, with each buyer posting an average bid size of $22,076. 132 countries had registered for the auction, with the highest participation coming from Europe and Asia. Celo raises $40m so far The raise builds on the $30 million in funding Celo raised last year, …

An address associated with the $50 million hack of South Korean crypto exchange, Upbit, has moved some of the stolen Ethereum (ETH) to Binance. The world's biggest exchange immediately froze these funds on its platform, and has initiated an investigation. On May 13, Whale Alert tweeted that a 137 ETH ($27,164) transaction was moving funds derived from hacked Upbit exchange to Binance. According to the transaction details, the transfer occurred at 12 p.m. EST. Less than one hour after the transaction was flagged, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, or CZ, stepped in to the tweet thread to report that the transferred …

XRP users can now delete their wallets on the XRP network if they so desire — an update put in place after the community majority voted in favor of the change. "After maintaining an 80% consensus during the mandatory 15-day voting period, the XRPL Deletable Accounts Amendment became enabled on May 8, 2020 at 4:29:30 UTC, through the ledger 55,313,921," former XRP Center manager, Arturo Portilla, said in a May 8 tweet. Users can delete accounts on the ledger Ripple's XRP runs on a distributed ledger. "An account in the XRP Ledger represents a holder of XRP and a sender …

Crypto custody platform Trustology has extended its services to Binance Chain and plans to offer custodial trading through Binance's non-custodial exchange, Binance DEX. How exactly can custodial trading happen on a non-custodial exchange like DEX? Binance recently announced plans to build a “smart chain” running parallel to the existing Binance Chain. In more physical terms, imagine using multiple modes of transport such as an automobile and an airplane, for example, to get from point A to point B. According to Trustology, this unlikely matchup may, in fact, encourage the creation of decentralized applications and an indication the Binance network is …