Binance’s first ever acquisition is an Ether Wallet. According to Tech Crunch, the exchange which has recently moved its headquarters to Malta acquired Trust Wallet which supports ERC-20 and ERC 223 standard tokens.
Trust Wallet does not appear nearly as popular as other top Ethereum wallets with just about 50,000 downloads on the Android’s Play Store. Wallets like MyEtherWallet or ImToken are far more popular in the Ethereum community.
The service will operate independently from the exchange with only administrative and marketing support from the cryotocurrency exchange. The wallet will eventually support other cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and it is thought the development team is currently focussing on adding this.
Focus on security
Security of funds is a top priority for cryptocurrency exchanges in the wake of high profile attacks that have shaken the industry. A good number of exchanges that have been hacked have not recovered from the sometimes devastating losses or the lost confidence among customers. One of these is Coincheck, which although refunded its customers was eventually sold to Monex Group.
Binance, currently the world’s largest exchange by volume is also building its own decentralised exchange. A decentralised exchange allows users to trade while independently handling their own funds.
This is in contrast with a decentralised exchange where the exchange holds customers’ funds. A decentralised exchange on the other hand allows users to directly exchange tokens between themselves in true peer to peer fashion hence removing some of the security risks associated with a centralised model. Trust wallet will be one of the default wallets when Binance’s plan for a decentralised exchange comes to fruition.
Binance has only been in operation for about a year but has made about $500 million in profits already. It made $300 million in revenue in the first half of 2018 and is on course to hitting the $1 billion mark by the end of the year.
Binance is likely to be the start of an acquisition spree as the company seeks a more dominant role in the industry.