What does the future of Web3 look like for SafePal CEO Veronica Wong?

As the world moves towards a more digital future, the concept of Web3 and its potential to revolutionize the internet has become a hot topic in the tech industry. In this interview, SafePal CEO Veronica Wongshares his insights on the future of Web3 and the current state of the crypto market.

She also talks about her thoughts on the challenges and opportunities in the crypto security space and how SafePal is positioning itself to meet these challenges head on.

Q: In 2022, the crypto space saw some significant turbulence and the crash of several major platforms. What do users need to know as they enter 2023 as crypto investors and how can they better protect their digital assets?

While Black Swan events damaged general faith in crypto, a large part of that was due to the opacity and mismanagement of centralized platforms, and not an accurate reflection of the industry as a whole.

Crypto is still a new industry, and risk management and diversification are always important. Investors should do thorough research before jumping in blindly or taking advice from influencers.

Battle-tested and established platforms may not be as exciting as new projects, but they are often safer, so investors must weigh out risk and reward in accordance with risk appetite.

Q: Will 2023 bring a new wave of adoption for Web3? Are customers moving to self-managed wallets now after the crash of one of the largest centralized exchanges?

Abuse of centralized platforms has actually catalyzed the adoption of self-storage solutions. This should not just be a temporary wave of interest, but an important driver to strengthen the adoption of self-management of assets – which has often been neglected, but is a key foundation of crypto.

While self-storage is liberating, it also means that users must be responsible for protecting their assets from malicious attacks and following best practices that include wallet hygiene, security measures, and more.

Developers should improve UI, UX and security, but users must also make an effort to read educational resources to improve their understanding and awareness.

Q: What does SafePal do to ensure the security of customers’ assets?

SafePal’s flagship S1 hardware wallet keeps private keys completely offline with an air-gapped signing mechanism and a self-deleting anti-tamper mechanism for added security.

We work closely with external security institutions such as CertiK to evaluate products and have a blacklisting mechanism to reduce user exposure to malicious third-party DApps – with 1,500 removed last year. SafePal is also strict with the listing of screening processes and the selection of organic partners and campaign partners.

Like a crypto wallet package, education is just as important to building safe products for users. Guides are regularly shared through our channels and we actively engage our community with AMAs.

Q: Despite the cold snaps of the crypto winter, will 2023 bring a revitalized interest in the space?

The overall economic outlook is still improving, but efforts in the development of meaningful crypto projects continue. Advances in MPC technology and account abstraction improve ease of use and security, while solutions such as the EIP4844 provide more affordable gas charges, reducing barriers to use and scalability.

We’re also starting to see “Wallet Wars” emerge – as more companies dive into creating their own versions, with crypto wallets popping up everywhere.

This is a positive trend as it shows an industry-wide recognition of the importance of confidence, driving innovation and value for users, which will ultimately revitalize interest this year.

Q: Even in this tough climate, SafePal grew its user base more than twice to over 7 million users globally. What are the biggest achievements and biggest challenges you faced in 2022?

Along with the growth of our user base, we have stayed at the forefront of cross-chain interoperability by supporting 55 blockchain networks and their native tokens, and we also launched our browser extension last July to become a fully comprehensive crypto wallet package.

It has been challenging to offer quality products for hardware, software and browser extensions at the same time, but this has allowed us to compete with the likes of Ledger and MetaMask as few platforms have the necessary resources and expertise.

We have also been profitable while scaling our team globally over the past 3 years.

Q: What are your plans for this year? Any ambitious goals you’re looking forward to achieving in the coming months?

SafePal is blessed to celebrate its 5th anniversary, despite the challenges the industry faced last year. We will not rest on our laurels and aim to aggressively grow our user base by continuing to improve the quality and functionality of our products.

Plans to achieve this include implementing social logins and recovery to improve accessibility and security, continued efforts to become open source, and more. We are also looking to add features to help users better manage their NFTs and combat the targeted scams and exploits that are on the rise.

Blockchain integrations and meaningful partnerships with leading platforms will continue to be part of our core efforts. We will also continue to scale our team internationally to strengthen our community and address language barriers for our increasingly global user base.