China’s Cheetah Mobile Launches Wallet for Bitcoin and Ethereum

Cheetah Mobile, a China-based international mobile app company, announced the release of a new cryptocurrency wallet called Safe Wallet on January 31, 2018. Cheetah Mobile makes security products including Security Master and Clean Master and stated, “By leveraging its extensive mobile security and product development experience, Cheetah Mobile has truly created a safer mobile wallet.”

“Cheetah Mobile’s move into the blockchain industry represents a significant moment for our company. Similar to our AI strategy, we are committed to staying at the forefront of the latest technological trends, and mobile asset security is an area that we believe we can have a strong impact,” SVP of Cheetah Mobile Edward Sun said.

SafeWallet supports Bitcoin and Ethereum and plans to be able to hold more currencies “soon.” Cheetah Mobile says wallet users can create and manage multiple wallets, import multi-format wallets, and send and receive digital assets. The wallet also provides current exchange rates for the virtual currencies. SafeWallet is now available on Google Play, with the release of an iOS version imminent.

The company statement explains that SafeWallet protects users in three main areas; phone security, asset management and user behavior. Related features include a safety keyboard, wallet risk monitor and transfer reminder. It gives notifications of any potentially dangerous operations and assists in any necessary virus and malware removal. Cheetah Mobile says it has provided security for more than one billion customers in the past five years and that more than 100 million users rely on its mobile security services daily.

Cheetah Mobile was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Beijing. It has been a publicly-traded company since 2014, and its 2017 revenues are estimated to be almost $800 million. Cheetah Mobile’s many mobile products include games like Piano Tiles 2 and the streaming product Live.me. It is also active in the mobile and global advertising industry. Its U.S. headquarters in Silicon Valley was established in 2016. As Sun mentioned above, AI will be a central focus for the company going forward, and it has reportedly already hired 200 AI engineers to bolster these capabilities. Founder Sheng Fu told VentureBeat on January 15, “The strategy for Cheetah Mobile for the next five to ten years is to focus on AI and robotics.”

As Cheetah Mobile steams ahead in the realms of cryptocurrency management and AI, it’s home country of China continues a systematic crackdown on virtual money and related industries. China banned initial coin offerings (ICOs) and cryptocurrency-to-fiat exchanges in 2017 and is now working with local governments to monitor the energy usage of its Bitcoin miners.