Web3 and crypto platform Account Labs today said that it has raised $7.7 million in early-stage funding to provide cryptocurrency wallets that allow users to maintain control of their own private keys — and access them using their Google accounts so they don’t need to remember seed phrases to log in.

The Pre-Series A investment was led by prominent investors from the crypto and internet technology markets, specifically digital asset finance company Amber Group, decentralized capital organization MixMarvel DAO Ventures and technology-focused venture capital firm Qiming Ventures.

Along with the funding, the company launched its UniPass wallet app, which allows users to send, receive and cash out stablecoins safely, including USD Coins and USDT. Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency that are “pegged” to a traditional currency, such as the U.S. dollar, so each token stays in one-to-one parity with USD at $1. This makes stablecoins useful cryptocurrency for holding, trading and using in exchange for services because they don’t exhibit volatility.

The wallet also uses the Polygon blockchain to lower transaction fees and provide “account abstraction,” which means that it writes account information onto the blockchain. This allows the wallet to permit users to use their Google account information to log in instead of needing to remember the 12-digit seed phrase to access their information in order to add it on a new device or if they lose access to it.

The ability to use a Google account will also enable users to top up their wallets using Mastercard and Visa through Google Pay, Google LLC’s online payment service. For cashing out, users can use cards, bank transfers and more financial payment services, supported in more than 170 countries in over 50 currencies.

Account Labs is the product of a merger between the software wallet developer UniPass and hardware wallet maker Keystone in May. Keystone produces hardware wallets, which allow users to maintain control of their cryptocurrency by storing it in a device that permits users to confirm transactions without exposing their private keys that represent their wallets.

“As the crypto industry grapples with frequent digital asset losses, the Web3 world is in dire need of comprehensive technical solutions to restore market confidence,” Liu Lixin, co-founder and chief executive of Account Labs, said at the time.

Account Labs believes that the need to maintain privacy and security over cryptocurrency transactions and the ease of use of stablecoins will spur adoption of its wallet technology, especially among digital natives and tradespeople who can take advantage of the lower fees and capabilities of the wallet. Because UniPass doesn’t require the same level of expertise of other wallets, such as recalling the long seed to recover wallets, it represents a unique solution in the market.

The UniPass wallet is initially targeting the Philippines market for its initial app launch and testing phase, with the intent of using the regions already existing high adoption rate for crypto. After that, the company said, it will expand its efforts into Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Image: Account Labs