Bitget

Dragonfly Capital invests $10M in Bitget amid industry recovery

The exchange currently facilitates cryptocurrency derivatives trading with an open interest of $2.4 billion and has plans to expand its spot trading, launchpad and Bitget Earn products.

Dragonfly Capital has invested $10 million in cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Bitget, the San Francisco-based venture capital firm announced on April 4. The funds will be used to support Bitget’s ongoing global market and service expansion and upcoming corporate social responsibility initiatives directed at crypto education and adoption.

Bitget disclosed that since its inception in 2018, the exchange has grown to comprise over 80,000 traders and 380,000 copy traders, or individuals that sync their trading positions with that of traders using automation. For its 2023 roadmap, Bitget plans to expand its spot trading, launchpad and Bitget Earn products. 

Dragonfly has invested in prominent blockchain firms such as Matter Labs, 1inch and Polygon. The firm had a reported $3 billion in assets under management in 2022. Cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges were negatively impacted by the collapse of FTX in November. At that time, the exchange facilitated $6.6 billion in contracts per day in trading volume and had an open interest of $5.1 billion.

Related: Crypto-focused venture firm Dragonfly acquires hedge fund: Bloomberg

Since FTX’s downfall, central exchanges’ open interest has recovered to approximately $68.5 billion at the time of publication, compared to an estimated $60.1 billion at its nadir in December 2022, according to data from Coinmarketcap and CoinGecko.

 While markets have stabilized from the worst of the FTX collapse, the crypto industry still faces issues, such as the recent Commodity Futures Trading Commission lawsuit against Binance. The CFTC alleges that Binance onboarded an estimated 2.8 million U.S. customers without registering with the regulator. Interestingly, since it is the onus of the seller to perform due diligence checks before onboarding potential customers in the U.S., it is unlikely that alleged users themselves could face the consequences of finding their way onto the exchange.

BitKeep completes compensation for $8M APK exploit, announces rebranding

BitKeep Wallet will now be known as Bitget Wallet following a $30 million investment from the namesake crypto derivatives exchange last week.

On March 29, multichain wallet BitKeep announced that it had fully compensated users affected by the 7.2.9. Android Package Kit (APK) exploit that took place on Dec. 26, 2022. On the day of the incident, the 7.2.9. APK update for BitKeep was maliciously swapped by hackers, resulting in an estimated $8 million loss of funds from users who downloaded the malware.

According to BitKeep, 11,090 wallets affected by the incident have been fully reimbursed as of March 29. In addition, BitKeep says its customer service channels remain open to processing several “irregular” claims and appeals.

At the same time, BitKeep will rebrand to Bitget Wallet following a $30 million investment last week at a $300 million valuation from the namesake cryptocurrency derivatives exchange. As part of the integration, BitKeep will have access to Bitget’s $300 million Bitget User Protection Fund in the event of future security threats.

Incumbent BitKeep CEO Kevin Como will also step down, while Karry Cheung, the firm’s current chief product officer, will become its new CEO. Moka Han, chief operating officer at BitKeep, commented:

“We have successfully established ourselves as a reputable crypto wallet with a wide range of services, including storage, swap, NFT marketplace, and more. After joining the Bitget ecosystem, we will be more confident in competing in the global market.”

Meanwhile, Gracy Chen, managing director at Bitget, stated:

“We are working with the BitKeep team to bring the most-used DeFi features, swap, NFT marketplace, and DApps, to the millions of users in the Bitget ecosystem.”

For its next steps, BitKeep plans to develop new technologies, such as multi-party computation, account abstraction, decentralized identity, and zero-knowledge roll-ups for the Bitget Wallet. The wallet has surpassed 9.5 million users since inception.

Related: Multichain wallet BitKeep raises $30M at $300M valuation

Multichain wallet BitKeep raises $30M at $300M valuation

The firm previously raised $15 million at a $100 million valuation in May 2022.

On March 22, cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Bitget announced a $30 million investment into the multichain wallet BitKeep at a $300 million valuation. The deal will see Bitget become the controlling shareholder of BitKeep and allow the latter to “access to the exchange’s proven technology and security capabilities in the exchange domain, thus helping it improve the stability and security of its services.” Gracy Chen, managing director at Bitget, commented:

“Being one of the most trusted crypto exchanges with a $300 million user protection fund, we know how much security and reliability mean to cryptocurrency users and are confident that the integration of our native solutions in this domain into BitKeep’s framework will bolster its image as an attractive wallet.”

Meanwhile, Moka Han, chief operating officer at BitKeep, added:

“The investment deal implies not only financial but also technical support, which will be provided to us by a professional team along with the experience necessary for product growth and market expansion. We are excited about this partnership and the potential it has to provide our users.”

BitKeep is a self-custody wallet popular among users in the Asia-Pacific region, although it also has a substantial global presence. Aside from providing access to decentralized finance protocols and non-fungible tokens, the wallet is known for its ability to process cross-chain swaps of digital assets between different blockchains within the application itself. The firm says BitKeep wallet has surpassed 8 million users and supports over 250,000 cryptocurrencies across 80 blockchains. Previously in May 2022, BitKeep raised $15 million at a valuation of $100 million, with Dragonfly Capital leading the investment.

“This is one of Bitget’s crucial moves towards Web3 entry as part of its new Go Beyond Derivatives strategy, which foresees linking CeFi and DeFi, transforming the platform from a leading contract exchange to a comprehensive and holistic exchange with its own ecosystem.“

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