SBI Group Completes $15 Million Investment In Crypto Storage Firm Tangem

SBI Group has completed a $15 million investment in cryptocurrency smart card developer, Tangem. Barely a year into operation the Japanese finance giant has continued to make inroads into the cryptocurrency sector, depicted by the massive investment.

SBI Group $15 Million Investment

The investment will accord SBI Group access to wide array of proprietary hardware wallets that Tangem has developed, targeting digital coins holders. In addition to hardware wallets, Tangem is also making a name for itself on the provision of cold storage solutions for crypto assets.

Tangem products seek to make it easy for people to settle cryptocurrency transactions off-chain. The company started issuing its digital wallets mid last year, with the aim of increasing cryptocurrency adoption. Its ultimate goal is to make digital currencies spendable, as is the case with the use of smart cards in transport.

In response to the $15 million investment, Tangem has confirmed plans to work with SBI Group in coming up with stable coins as well as digital identity solutions. The Switzerland based company is also planning to develop platforms for conducting initial coin offerings as well as tokenized asset offerings.

“With this additional investment in 2019, we will be able to extend our product offering in other industries and provide better support to companies which embrace the idea of the physical distribution of blockchain assets,” co-founder Andrey Kurennykh commented in the press release.

SBI Group Crypto Push

Tangem investment marks yet another outlet as SBI Group continues to pursue opportunities in the embattled cryptocurrency sphere.  Late last year, the company inked a strategic partnership with Sepior, a company involved in the development of digital asset wallets. The company has also completed a 40% stake investment in another cold storage wallet manufacturer dubbed CoolBitX, based in Taiwan.

The investments have come at a time when the cryptocurrency sector faces a lot of uncertainties. Price implosion after a meteoric rise is the latest headwind that has sent investors scattering.  Regulation uncertainty is another headwind that continues to cast serious doubt about what the future holds for the once-booming sector.

Amidst the uncertainty, SBI Group is switching its attention to investing in firms providing storage services for crypto assets. The high risk of storing digital assets in cryptocurrency exchanges has forced crypto enthusiasts to turn to cold storages as well as hardware wallets, as they seek to shield themselves from the ever-growing threat of cyber-attacks.