“In a few years, the majority of current bank accounts in Europe will be supplanted by blockchain-based universal wallets designed to support new forms of bank money and tokenized financial assets.”
Italy-based crypto custodian Conio, partly owned by Poste Italiane and Banca Generali, has announced ambitious plans to broaden its digital asset support and extend its robust custody technology to EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) blockchains like Ethereum, Polygon, and Avalanche.
Conio, which was a pioneer in launching the first Bitcoin wallet for smartphones in Italy in 2015, has added a dozen new cryptocurrencies to its wallet in recent months.
The list includes high-profile additions like Ripple, Solana, Polygon, Polkadot, and Chainlink, joining the existing roster that features Ethereum, Cardano, Dogecoin, Litecoin, Avalanche, Algorand, and the stablecoin USDC. Bitcoin remains at the core of Conio’s offerings.
The fintech firm is also enhancing user experience with a new “Convert” feature in its app. This feature enables users to seamlessly convert one digital asset into another within the platform, circumventing the need for bank transactions and thereby saving both time and transaction costs.
But Conio’s development pipeline is brimming with more. By the end of this year, the company aims to support up to 50 digital assets. It is also working on expanding its custody technology to include EVM-based blockchains. This move aligns with the growing institutional interest in secure and diverse custody solutions, given the rapid development in the tokenization of assets.
Address banks’ demand for custodian support for EVM-based blockchains
Orlando Merone, General Manager at Conio, emphasized the company’s commitment to innovation: “We have revolutionized the usability of our app, extended support to new assets, and added new features in just a few months. We are now focused on extending our high-standard custody technology to EVM-based blockchains, as banks and financial institutions are showing increased interest in these solutions.”
Christian Miccoli, CEO of Conio, further projected a transformative role for blockchain technology in financial services. “In a few years, the majority of current bank accounts in Europe will be supplanted by blockchain-based universal wallets designed to support new forms of bank money and tokenized financial assets,” he said.
Conio’s strides in the sector haven’t gone unnoticed. The company was recently nominated for the third time as a Sample Vendor in the Blockchain Wallets category within the Gartner® Hype Cycle for Blockchain and Web3. It was also the only Italian crypto fintech firm selected for the Visa Innovation Program Europe 2023.
With already 400,000 private customers and the trust of major banks and financial institutions, Conio is poised to further solidify its leadership in Italy’s digital asset landscape, driven by high security standards and cutting-edge custody technology.
