Malta’s Binance snaps up Trust Wallet

Malta-based crypto exchange Binance has purchased the cryptocurrency wallet provider Trust Wallet in a move it says is aimed at giving back control to its customers.

The details of the merger have not been made public, but one Binance executive said Trust Wallet was purchased with a combination of cash, Binance stock and BNB (Binance) tokens.

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According to the deal, US-based Trust Wallet will remain independent, although Binance – initially founded in China, then moved to Japan and finally Malta – will assist in running the administrative side of the business and marketing.

“Trust Wallet was launched in November 2017 and enjoys a reputation for security by never requesting user data or private information,” said Binance CEO Zhao Changpeng.

“The users control 100% of their funds. Now we have both a decentralised and centralised solution for custody.”

The mobile Trust Wallet runs on open source, decentralised and anonymous Ethereum, ERC20, ERC223, and ERC721, allowing users to store over 20,000 different Ethereum-based tokens.

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“Wallets are the most fundamental interface to the crypto economy, and a secure and easy-to-use wallet is key to proliferate the adoption of cryptocurrencies,” added Changpeng.

“Trust Wallet is simply the best in this category in my opinion. Trust Wallet is an on-chain wallet, where user private keys are decentralised, for example, stored on user devices. This compliments the centralised architecture of Binance nicely. Now, we have the best of both worlds, and users have their choice.”

With the deal, Binance adds an on-chain mobile wallet to its list of service possibilities, while Trust Wallet will continue to be autonomous and free to develop the core product and explore the exchange’s broad user base and the upcoming decentralised exchange.

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Binance celebrated its first anniversary mid-July and is currently one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. It made nearly $500 million (£381 million) in profits during its first year of operations.