We built the Blockchain Wallet because we’re driven by a relentless passion for making crypto easy to use. We want everyone to be able to use it, not just invest in it.
We believe that owning and controlling your own private key is the single most important aspect of using crypto. Without a private key, you aren’t using crypto – you’re just speculating and you’re missing the defining part of crypto: user controlled, sovereign money.
It was enabling that exact need that underpinned the development of the Blockchain Wallet six years ago. The mission? Make it easy for every user to have their own private key, to get users away from storing funds at exchanges and “bitcoin banks”, and to enable everyone to be their own bank.
Fast forward six years and we’ve achieved a few things that we’re proud of:
Building the first cross-platform, non-custodial, and cross-chain wallet
Signing up 30 million wallets in 140 countries globally
Powering over $200 billion in consumer transaction volume and over 80 million consumer crypto transactions in the last two years alone
Championing the cause of financial sovereignty and user-control with regulators around the world. (We’ve spent thousands of hours and millions on education and outreach.)
Helping our users store millions of BTC, BCH & ETH coins and generate over a quarter of bitcoin network traffic alone
Most importantly, it’s been a honor and privilege to be the first place tens of millions of people turn in order to actually use crypto and hold their own keys.
But there’s a lot still to do.
At the end of the last bull run, we did a serious self-assessment and asked ourselves, what do users need that we aren’t delivering today? We identified four common requests and frustrations:
Better, faster ways for new users to get their first crypto and make their first transaction
More storage types, like hardware, as users’ balances increased
More assets as users want to store and use an increasingly diverse asset set
Better, more reliable sources of liquidity as trading and investing across assets continues to increase
Satisfying these demands meant building a huge extension of our platform, at scale. We’ve had our heads down much of this year doing exactly that and starting today we’re excited to begin delivering new solutions to you, beginning with two new capabilities.
First, we’re launching Swap by Blockchain: a next generation trading product with best-in-class liquidity and execution, powered by our new machine trading software platform that ensures best execution across assets. Blockchain Wallet users will now have access to exchange-like prices without giving up control of their keys or their crypto. And trade limits will increase from hundreds to thousands of dollars of crypto per trade.
While the system currently has deep liquidity drawn from a variety of sources, we plan to add more liquidity sources over time, including decentralized exchange protocols. We’ve rebuilt our risk and KYC systems, so that you can onboard with ease, in minutes. Swap ensures our users stay liquid and can trade at the best prices in the market, regardless of overall market volatility and challenges. We’ve started rolling Swap out today and everyone will have access over the next two weeks.
Secondly, we’re launching Lockbox: a hardware vault in your pocket, built in partnership with hardware leader Ledger. Lockbox is simple to use and is even more secure thanks to a locked endpoint that prevents phishing and spoofing attacks. It’s hardware made easy, with a setup that takes just a few moments thanks to our custom hardware-software integration.
With Lockbox you’re able to check your balance and receive transactions, on mobile and web, without the inconvenience of having to plug your device in every time. In an industry first, you’ll also be able to trade directly from your Lockbox while still maintaining your keys. In conjunction with Lockbox, we’re also excited to let current Ledger device owners seamlessly pair with the Blockchain Wallet and trade directly from the Ledger device they already own.
And we have more coming this year, including additional assets and new products within the Blockchain Wallet that will bring you new, faster, and better ways to get started in crypto.
We’re here to build a new financial system and the Blockchain Wallet is your passport to that new world. Store crypto, trade crypto, transact with crypto and most importantly truly own and control your crypto.
We’re dedicated to building the functionality you want, without compromising your control of your key. Your crypto is yours, and it should stay that way.
The disruption caused by cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology in the global financial market has drawn the envy of many, especially the global banking institutions and some payment processing giant like MasterCard. The reason is simple! Cryptocurrencies and blockchain have been challenging the modus operandi and status quo of the traditional financial institutions! In the past, MasterCard was an ardent critic of cryptocurrencies and blockchain. At one time, the company refused to acknowledge the potential of blockchain, and is CEO also !
The Tables Have Finally Turned
Despite continuous criticism coming from all ends, cryptocurrencies have managed to penetrate the mainstream financial market. So neglecting it outrightly was certainly not an option for ! In fact, the payment processing giant has been filing several patents in this space.
The latest from MasterCard shows the company to be working on Fractional Reserve Banking for cryptocurrencies. The patent document explains that MasterCard was merchants to interact with “blockchain currencies” using a new method which involves simultaneous fiat and crypto storage. More specifically, it will be a web wallet with a combination of crypto and fiat.
The patent notes that MasterCard is willing to apply the concepts of fiat banking systems to cryptocurrency storage. MasterCard says that the existing payment networks and processing systems for fiat currencies “are specially designed and configured to safely store and protect consumer and merchant information and credentials and to transmit sensitive data between computing systems.”
Furthermore, the existing payment systems configuration can handle risk assessment, fraud algorithm applications, and complex calculations extremely fast.
The patent further notes, “Accordingly, the use of traditional payment networks and payment systems technologies in combination with blockchain currencies may provide consumers and merchants the benefits of the decentralized blockchain while still maintaining the security of account information and provide a strong defense against fraud and theft.”
MasterCard Presents Some Benefits of Mixing Traditional and Crypto Technologies
MasterCard says that there are a lot of benefits if we combine the traditional and crypto tech. The company says that this new system will also include its proven and robust payment network and products.
“Transactions that may be performed via a payment network may include product or service purchases, credit purchases, debit transactions, fund transfers, account withdrawals, etc. Payment networks may be configured to perform transactions via cash-substitutes, which may include payment cards, letters of credit, checks, transaction accounts, etc.”
However, one thing we need to acknowledge is that the latest patent highlights the process of getting crypto payments into the mainstream. Currently, cryptocurrencies are mainly used as assets or investment tools.
Moreover, this is not for the first time that MasterCard has filed patents in crypto and blockchain space. Earlier this year in July, MasterCard got a for reducing cryptocurrency transactions times. Last month in September, the company about leveraging the blockchain technology to its optimum potential.
