Mesh, a US-based fintech company offering integrations with over 300 leading exchanges and wallets that recently completed a $22 million Series A round and received a $6.5 million strategic investment from PayPal Ventures, and Conio, the Italian fintech company backed by Poste Italiane and Banca Generali, which introduced Italy's first Bitcoin and digital assets wallet, announce today the launch Europe’s first Open Banking solution for Bitcoin.
This groundbreaking integration within Conio's platform offers its 430,000+ customers in Italy a unified access point to the entire crypto ecosystem, allowing them to link their Bitcoin wallets with leading digital asset exchange platforms.
The integration of Mesh within the Conio App will enable direct connection with ten major platforms: Binance, Bitfinex, Bitsamp, Bybit, Coinbase, Houbi, Kraken, Kucoin, OKX, and Robinhood, with some already available in the App section and others to be activated in the coming weeks. This initial phase will expand to encompass additional assets, connect more platforms, and incorporate advanced functionalities, enabling integrated account management across various platforms - all from within the Conio App. It will embody a true Open Banking solution for Bitcoin and digital assets.
The project's objectives are twofold:
● Streamlining the traditional Bitcoin transfer process by eliminating friction points. This involves removing obstacles and difficulties such as QR code usage, lengthy and complex address copying and pasting, as well as the need for test transfers. This will also reduce the risk of sending funds to the wrong address and permanently losing them.
● Driving further adoption of secure custody solutions like Conio's, which employs a three-private-keys system, requiring only two keys for transaction authorization. This setup ensures asset accessibility, even if one private key becomes unavailable.
According to industry research conducted by leading investment research publication Adan in collaboration with KPMG, which investigated digital asset adoption across several European countries, over 1,000 Italians were surveyed, revealing that 19% have already purchased cryptocurrencies and 11% are active or inactive crypto asset holders. Among these users, 66% rely on popular exchanges to store Bitcoin and their digital assets, rather than utilizing personal wallets. These statistics demonstrate the need for heightened awareness regarding digital assets security, even as the industry achieves greater maturity. Italy is not unique in this regard; similar trends are observed across Europe. In Germany, the figure stands at 59%, while in France, it reaches 63%. The UK and the Netherlands report even higher rates, at 69% and 83%, respectively.
"People should have the freedom to choose their preferred solution for safeguarding their Bitcoin and digital assets. Our partnership with Mesh paves the way for Conio to become a comprehensive gateway to the entire crypto ecosystem, empowering even users who opt for global services to securely transfer their assets into custody with the simplicity of a tap," says Orlando Merone, General Manager of Conio.
“Our mission is to make the world of digital assets accessible and secure for everyone. This collaboration with Mesh is a crucial step towards consolidating an integrated ecosystem that simplifies the use of secure custody solutions like Conio’s. We are excited to offer our users a unique platform for managing their assets, combining security, simplicity, and direct access to leading exchange platforms,” says Christian Miccoli, CEO and founder of Conio.
“Open banking is Europe’s next major catalyst for digital asset adoption, and with our partnership with Conio, we are deploying the infrastructure to make safe and seamless aggregation and crypto transfers possible for hundreds of thousands of users in the region," explains Bam Azizi, Founder and CEO of Mesh. "Solutions like the Conio custody model provide an excellent way for users, including those who are new to the field, to engage with cryptocurrencies, while Mesh unlocks a new layer of security and functionality for those uses without complicating the experience."