Binance is making a move in the hardware wallet industry, with its venture capital arm investing in the cold wallet platform Ngrave.
Binance Labs has made a strategic investment in the Belgian hardware wallet firm Ngrave and will lead its upcoming Series A round, the firm officially announced.
Yi He, co-founder of Binance and head of Binance Labs, pinpointed that security remains one of the biggest challenges for crypto adoption. Self-custodial wallets are one of the most secure methods for storing digital assets, adding that Binance is looking to continue backing startups that enhance user security.
Ngrave is not the first hardware wallet provider in Binance Labs’ portfolio. Binance Labs previously invested in the hardware wallet maker SafePal through its incubation program back in 2018. Binance has also been integrating SafePal’s solution into its platform, adding SafePal Mini App into Binance app in October 2022.
The ongoing cryptocurrency winter has accelerated the growth of the hardware wallet industry, while many centralized crypto exchanges were scrambling to maintain operations. Unlike exchanges, hardware wallets allow users to better control their funds by securing a private key. According to data from several studies released in July, the crypto hardware wallet industry could be growing at a faster pace than exchanges in the near future.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao even admitted that centralized exchanges may no longer be necessary as investors would shift to self-custodial solutions. The latest news comes shortly after Ledger Pascal Gauthier argued that Binance-owned software wallet Trust Wallet must offer the Ledger Connect option in order to provide better security to its users. The CEO declared in a tweet on Nov. 13. The connecting option essentially allows Trust Wallet users to store their keys on a Ledger device instead of storing them on a mobile phone or a computer.
