Coinify, a European-based financial platform that provides a wallet, trading and payment processing solution, has announced that they are integrating BRD Wallet into their platform to deliver BRD wallet access to users across the European region.
Specifically, the partnership provides access to virtual currencies, like bitcoin, to 34 countries across the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). The SEPA region is a collection of member states in Europe who are part of a payment system that simplifies bank transfers denominated in EUR. The launch is also enabled largely in part by Coinify’s newly rebranded trading solution for wallet partners.
Customers will now be able to use BRD Wallet to “purchase bitcoin at cost-efficient rates with SEPA bank transfers” within Coinify’s trading platform. With BRD integration, customers will also retain control over their private keys while using Coinify.
Essentially, this provides a large number of users with an efficient and secure way to buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and then allows them to immediately store it in a manner where they control what happens to their money. Typically, a user will entrust the custody of their private keys to a centralized exchange while they are waiting for trades to be executed and sometimes for much longer than that.
Aaron Lasher, co-founder and chief strategy officer at BRD, highlighted the advantages of the integration for security-focused users of the Coinify platform.
“We like exchanges and think security will get better in the future, but by using our integrated purchase and trading solutions, you get to keep your funds under your control 99 percent of the time, and only put them at a slightly higher risk for a short period when you make the exchange,” Lasher told Bitcoin Magazine.
“Using a non-custodial wallet means that you and you alone control your funds. It’s similar to having physical cash in a (highly secure) safe at home. Only in this case, we provide our customers a digital safe (the BRD wallet) that they can keep in their pocket and carry along. Nobody else in the world has access to your funds but you, and nobody can stop you from sending or receiving funds.”
Integrating a wallet that allows users to own their funds and seamlessly make trades on a platform like Coinify could help to push bitcoin adoption forward.
"The financial industry is ripe for disruption and we see bitcoin and the other virtual currencies as the future of payments,” said Rikke Stær, chief commercial officer at Coinify, told Bitcoin Magazine. “At Coinify, we have experienced first-hand the rising adoption of bitcoin and working with BRD as a user-friendly, decentralized wallet will only encourage the global reach of the currency."
“Since launching as the first iOS bitcoin wallet in the App Store over 4 years ago, we’ve grown tremendously in North America,“ Adam Traidman, CEO and co-founder of BRD, said in a statement. “Europe will be strategic in the next phase of BRD’s global growth, and the partnership with Coinify will ensure our success in this crucial endeavour.”
In August 2018, Canadian-based Coinberry exchange launched a similar BRD integration, allowing users to quickly and seamlessly buy, deposit and withdraw bitcoin on the Coinberry platform, while keeping control of their keys at all times.