Etherscan is the most trusted tool for navigating through all the public data on the Ethereum blockchain and is sometimes called “Ethplorer.” This data includes transaction data, wallet addresses, smart contracts and much more. The application is self-contained and is neither sponsored nor administered by the Ethereum Foundation, which is a non-profit organization. The team behind Etherscan includes seasoned developers and industry professionals, who developed the Etherscan app to make the Ethereum blockchain more accessible to everyday users. Although Etherscan is a centralized platform, the app does make it easier for people to search through the Ethereum blockchain. Is Etherscan …

The institutional arm of the Consensys-owned MetaMask has integrated its first multi-chain digital asset custody solution called Cactus Custody. MetaMask Institutional (MMI) initially partnered with Cactus Custody owned by crypto financial service platform Matrixport in October last year to incorporate its “DeFi Connector” feature into MMI’s suite of services. The full integration with MMI was announced on Jan. 26, and Cactus Custody’s feature will now provide institutional customers with multi-chain connectivity to all Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains, sidechains and Layer 2s supported by MetaMask such as Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Avalanche, Celo and Polygon. MMI product lead Johann Bornman …

Online retail investing platform Robinhood has released its long awaited crypto wallet for beta testing which will finally enable users to withdraw crypto from the platform. The first 1,000 users that signed up to the waitlist for ‘Wallets’ are eligible to take part in beta testing. Wallets testers will be able to withdraw crypto valued up to $2,999 over a maximum of 10 total transactions daily. Robinhood is a financial services platform backed by Citadel Securities that offers stock and crypto trading. Robinhood’s crypto purchaser users have awaited the release of Wallets since mid 2021 when the waitlist was first …

OpenSea announced Tuesday the acquisition of Dharma Labs, a cryptocurrency lending platform and digital wallet, for an undisclosed amount. According to the statement, Dharma Labs would effectively shut down and its co-founders Nadav Hollander and Brendan Forster, will become OpenSea’s new Chief Technology Officer and its Head of Strategy, respectively. OpenSea claimed this acquisition will help accomplish its mission to scale product development, grow its team, expand its safety and reliability efforts, and invest in the NFT and Web3 ecosystem. I’m happy to finally share that we’ve acquired @Dharma_HQ to help us scale our engineering, product and customer support! https://t.co/NnJdSFBzvo …

Major crypto wallet and platform Crypto.com has temporarily halted withdrawals after "a small number of users reporting suspicious activity on their accounts," but all funds are reportedly safu at the moment. We have a small number of users reporting suspicious activity on their accounts. We will be pausing withdrawals shortly, as our team is investigating. All funds are safe. — Crypto.com (@cryptocom) January 17, 2022 A few hours ago, Crypto.com halted withdrawals from its platform in response to several "thefts" by customers' accounts. Dogecoin (DOGE) founder Billy Markus noticed a suspicious transaction pattern on Etherscan that prompted the company to …

The sad reality is that most decentralized finance (DeFi) wallets and protocols are complicated to use, especially for beginners. Although rich in functionality, these products are often designed by technologists and not for the everyday user who needs more guidance to get started. With consumers used to the simple interface on apps like Tinder, the “swipe left, swipe right mentality” has since transcended into all other consumer-facing products, finance included. The result is that while cryptocurrency assets and DeFi grow, so has the breadth of their functionality, and therefore, their complexity, as features become split across multiple chains and applications. …

The Human Rights Foundation announced on Jan 4 that it intends to distribute 425 million satoshis — the smallest divisible unit of a Bitcoin — to various contributors as a part of its ongoing Bitcoin Development Fund. Launched in May 2020, the Bitcoin Development Fund launched with a primary focus on improving the Bitcoin network’s privacy, usability and security. The foundation said that it will focus this particular round of grants on expanding Bitcoin education and translation as well as Bitcoin core, lightning, and wallet development. According to the organization’s press release, it will divide these grants between a number …

Beginning in February, Estonia is set to introduce sweeping changes to its definition of Virtual Asset Service Providers, or VASPs, to include several cryptocurrency-related services — a move that could impact Bitcoin (BTC) ownership in the country — according to European compliance specialist Sumsub. On Sept. 21, the Estonian Ministry of Finance published a draft bill to update the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act (the AML Act) as part of the government's effort to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. As Sumsub reported, the legislation is now in the interagency review process, with implementation set for February 2022. …

South Korean crypto exchange Coinone has announced it plans to no longer allow withdrawals of tokens to unverified external wallets starting in January. In a Wednesday announcement, Coinone said users would have from Dec. 30 to Jan. 23 to register their external wallets at the exchange, after which time it would restrict withdrawals. The exchange specified that crypto users could only register their own wallets, and the verification process “may take some time” and could change in the future. According to Coinone, it planned to verify users’ names and resident registration numbers — issued to all residents of South Korea …

Cryptocurrency and stock trading app Robinhood plans to roll out the beta version of its digital wallet feature starting in January 2022. In a Wednesday blog post, Robinhood said tens of thousands of users currently on the waitlist for the trading app’s crypto wallet would have access to the beta version starting in mid-January. The trading app said more than 1.6 million people were waiting for the wallet, which will support depositing and withdrawing Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Dogecoin (DOGE) and other tokens. The trading app has been testing its digital wallet feature since it was first announced in September, …

Could retail investors be flocking back to Bitcoin (BTC)? In encouraging signs for a bullish 2022, Glassnode data reveals that 913,000 new BTC addresses were added from November to the start of December this year. In a boon for BTC, on-chain analyst On-Chain College shared insightful data regarding retail adoption and the potential beginnings of broader adoption trends. The key takeaway to round off the year is that up to one million new entrants joined the Bitcoin network in November. Despite bearish price action in the short term, the Twitter flood shows that the macro outlook for BTC remains sound. …

How can new and avid cryptocurrency users find a wallet that meets their needs? Cryptocurrency holders can seek out wallets that offer the best of security, functionality and usability –– features that cater to any set of users. Users must be careful to consider factors including security, functionality and ease of use when determining where they will keep their funds. Although this typically means a choice between hot or cold storage, newer wallet releases give users many of these features within a single offering. The HitBTC team has since released their own wallet, branded by its security and clean interface, …