D'CENT Grew 200%, Evolves into an 'All-in-One Investment Wallet'… Accelerates Expansion into Institutional and Corporate Markets [Coin Interview]

Interview with Yoo Min-ho, CSO of IoTrust

Wallet functions expand beyond custody to 'investment and management'

Targeting institutional and corporate markets leveraging growth on a retail base

Envisioning next-generation wallet by combining AI and on-chain security

"Virtual asset (cryptocurrency) wallets are no longer merely tools for storing assets. They are evolving into the starting point of on-chain financial activity and the central infrastructure where investment decisions and Web3 activities occur. D'CENT aims to stand at the center of this change."

Yoo Min-ho, Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of IoTrust (photo), emphasized this in an interview with BloomingBit on the 31st. D'CENT is a domestic cold wallet brand that has grown on a global user base, and it is expanding functions so that users can directly utilize and manage assets rather than merely store them.

We asked CSO Yoo in detail about the reasons D'CENT was able to grow rapidly this year and its major expansion strategies for next year.

D'CENT doubled year-on-year… wallet role expands as regulatory uncertainty eases

IoTrust, the operator of D'CENT, recorded cumulative revenue of 10 billion won this year, growing more than twofold compared to the previous year. One of the main reasons cited is that the business environment across the wallet industry improved as the global virtual asset regulatory environment was organized. As regulatory uncertainty eased, the range of wallet use widened, and this trend is said to have supported the industry's growth.

CSO Yoo said, "We have focused not only on the hardware completeness of the wallet but also on elevating the app-centered user experience (UX) overall," and added, "After a stablecoin regulatory bill passed in the U.S. in July, market sentiment improved, and the product competitiveness and brand trust we had prepared began to reflect in performance."

Changes in the regulatory environment are also linked to the expanding scope of wallet use. CSO Yoo said, "Recently, the use of decentralized finance (DeFi) and stablecoins is becoming more clearly centered around wallets rather than going through exchanges," and predicted, "As on-chain activity takes root starting from the wallet itself, the wallet's influence will gradually increase." He added, "Considering domestic and international regulatory discussions together, I think relatively favorable conditions are forming across the wallet industry."

In fact, in the U.S., the stablecoin regulatory bill, the GENIUS Act, passed in July, and the Clarity Act, which deals with market structure, is pending Senate review. In Korea, discussions on institutionalizing systems are gaining momentum, with the Digital Asset Basic Act, which covers digital assets broadly, reportedly being considered for government proposal early next year after consultations with related agencies.

Based on these environmental changes, D'CENT plans to expand wallet functions. CSO Yoo said, "If the wallet previously remained a means of storing assets, now the goal is to implement a flow inside the wallet that analyzes and utilizes users' assets to lead to earnings," and "Starting next year, we will progressively add asset management functions such as deposits and yield generation."

Meanwhile, the D'CENT wallet supports over 100 virtual assets on mainnets. This includes major blockchain networks such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), TRON (TRX), and XRP (XRP).

Expanding into institutional and corporate markets… developing customized infrastructure

D'CENT is also accelerating expansion of product lines dedicated to the institutional market. CSO Yoo said, "As discussions on stablecoins or corporate issuance of digital assets become more concrete domestically and abroad, demand for institutional wallets that can directly issue and manage virtual assets will inevitably grow." He added, "A foundation is being laid domestically for a wallet market for institutions. D'CENT is preparing wallet services for this."

Recently, D'CENT has been developing customized wallet services equipped with permission management, internal controls, and approval processes suited to institutional user environments. They say they have built a technical foundation to broadly accommodate institutional security and operational requirements by applying multisig wallets, multi-party computation (MPC), and threshold signature scheme (TSS) technologies. Previously, D'CENT operated 'Wipin,' an enterprise wallet service (WaaS), and accumulated collaboration experience with institutions.

D'CENT also pays attention to the trend of expanding institutional custody services. CSO Yoo said, "As institutional virtual asset custody services become full-scale, the importance of wallet infrastructure with security and blockchain understanding will also grow," and added, "We plan to expand not only new hardware wallets suited to institutional environments but also a service lineup that meets institutional users' security and operational requirements."

Hardware, on-chain, and AI… evolving wallet security

D'CENT focuses both on hardware security and on risk management at the actual usage stage. CSO Yoo said, "Our hardware wallet is equipped with a secure element, designed to protect internal keys in case of physical tampering or unauthorized access," and emphasized, "It has a structure that minimizes the possibility of asset leakage even if the hardware wallet is lost."

In particular, D'CENT's secure element is designed to automatically erase internal encryption keys when it detects abnormal access such as attempts at physical disassembly or laser attacks. This is a method of isolating and protecting keys at the hardware level, similar to Samsung Knox or Apple's Secure Enclave. In addition, combining biometric authentication has received positive responses from global users by enabling safe verification and utilization of assets in mobile environments while being a hardware wallet.

Recently, D'CENT has also been strengthening the security of hardware wallet connections to on-chain activity. He said, "D'CENT is enhancing functions that warn in advance about malicious addresses, phishing sites, or high-risk transactions that the user did not intend before executing transactions," and explained, "We are strengthening risk prevention that can occur in real usage through collaboration with on-chain security projects."

Meanwhile, D'CENT also presented plans to elevate wallet usability using artificial intelligence (AI). CSO Yoo said, "The main reason DeFi and Web3 services feel difficult is the complexity of information," and added, "In the long term, we are considering using AI to analyze on-chain data and users' wallet activity to provide meaningful insights that help investment decisions."

Kang Min-seung, BloomingBit reporter minriver@bloomingbit.io