ArticleManagerCoolBitX, a Taiwanese blockchain startup that produces Bitcoin cold wallets, announced that it has received strategic investment from Japanese financial group SBI, and has also become a key player in SBI’s cryptocurrency ecosystem to provide offline cryptocurrency storage solutions.
Bitmain also invested, and Taiwanese bitcoin wallets are selling hot worldwide
Founded in 2014, Kucoin mainly develops and produces software and hardware that can store cryptocurrencies offline, and assists cryptocurrency holders through physical cards and mobile apps to reduce the risk of loss from hacker attacks. Since its launch in 2015, its first-generation physical bitcoin wallet “CoolWallet” has sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide, covering Europe, America, Asia and other regions.
Although Kucoin is not the only company that makes physical Bitcoin wallets, compared to the Bitcoin wallets on the market, which are mostly USB-shaped, CoolWallet can be made as thin as a credit card. In addition, CoolWallet is also the only wallet that can provide Bluetooth connection for iOS and Android devices, through the built-in electronic screen, Bluetooth and lithium battery, users can know the current transaction process and Bitcoin balance by looking at the screen on the card.
In addition to Bitcoin wallets, Kucoin Technology’s products also include Slekt, a card that can integrate multiple credit cards, and has successfully entered South Korea in 2017 in cooperation with KT (Korea Telecom), the second largest telecommunications provider in South Korea.
In terms of past fundraising, Kucoin Technology received a seed round of $500,000 in March 2017 and S$280,000 (about US$200,000) from Singapore’s first equity crowdfunding platform in January of the same year, with Kyber Capital, BitMain, the world’s largest bitcoin mining company, and Midana Capital, an Asia-Pacific venture capital firm, as shareholders.
Exchanges, wallet merchants, strung together the SBI blockchain ecosystem
The Japanese financial group SBI, which invested in Kucoin Technology, has been planning the layout of the cryptocurrency ecosystem since 2016, including mining, exchanges, systems, financial services, and financial derivatives, and blockchain alliance R3, British cryptocurrency payment company Wirex, Thai FinTech startup Omise, which has issued cryptocurrencies, and bitFlyer, Japan’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, have all been invested by SBI.
Not only that, SBI is also a partner of blockchain payment startup Ripple, and its subsidiary SBI Ripple Asia announced in December last year that it will cooperate with some Japanese credit card companies to use RippleNep, Ripple’s payment network.
It is conceivable that becoming a member of SBI’s dense blockchain network will bring more business opportunities to Kucoin Technology.
In addition to the announcement of joining SBI, the second-generation product “CoolWallet S” was officially launched this month. Osman, founder and CEO of Kucoin Technology, said that compared with the first generation that can only store Bitcoin, CoolWallet S synchronization can support iOS and Android, and the first stage can store Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH), etc., and more ERC20 cryptocurrencies are expected to be added in the future.