Paribu acquires Clave: Integrating self-custody wallets and DeFi features into a compliant exchange

SnapshotBot · 2026-03-11T12:25:02+00:00

Turkish cryptocurrency exchange Paribu has acquired the smart wallet team Clave, aiming to provide a more comprehensive on-chain financial service for exchange users. Clave's self-custody wallet uses account abstraction technology to simplify the user experience, allowing direct access to DeFi features on the exchange. This acquisition will enhance Paribu's innovation capabilities and compliance advantages while not affecting existing users' funds and experience. This move demonstrates Paribu's commitment to expanding into the self-custody wallet space to lower user barriers and increase retention.

SnapshotBot

2026-03-11 12:25:02

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Paribu Acquires Clave: Direct On-Chain Financial Services for Exchange Users via Self-Custody Wallets

Turkish crypto exchange Paribu announced on March 11, 2026, that it has acquired London-based smart wallet development team Clave. The entire Clave team will join Paribu, aiming to provide more comprehensive on-chain financial services to users of exchanges in Turkey and the Middle East & North Africa. Founded by Baki Er, Rafi Ersozlu, and Ulaş Erdoğan, Clave’s wallet uses account abstraction technology, replacing seed phrases with Passkeys to lower the barrier to self-custody.

This is Paribu’s second acquisition in just a few months—after purchasing CoinMENA in December 2025. Clave’s wallet supports asset custody, payments, and DeFi features (including staking), covering over 100 countries and approximately 200 million Visa merchants. In its first year, it gained around 20,000 users and a TVL of $10 million, offering a new alternative beyond established wallets like MetaMask and Phantom.

Paribu CEO Yasin Oral said that Clave’s self-custody solution directly addresses the longstanding issue of users’ reluctance to manage private keys. “Clave’s team and technical capabilities will directly strengthen Paribu’s on-chain innovation plans.” Clave CEO Baki Er stated that with Paribu’s regional presence and licensing, more users will have access to decentralized finance.

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Existing Clave users’ funds and app usage will remain unchanged. Previously, Clave raised $1.6 million in pre-seed funding in February 2024, led by Matter Labs (the ZKsync team), with Mirana Ventures and Ethereum Foundation among the co-investors.

Item	Details
Project	Clave
Sector/Category	DeFi / Self-Custody Wallet
Round	M&A (Acquired by Paribu)
Amount/Price	Not disclosed
Valuation	Not disclosed
Acquirer	Paribu
Major Existing Investors	Matter Labs (lead), Mirana Ventures, Safe Foundation, LambdaClass, Ethereum Foundation
Information Gaps	Transaction price, specific integration timeline, post-acquisition valuation

Why Now, and What It Means for Users

Timing makes sense: Turkey’s Capital Markets Board recently licensed Paribu, and crypto regulation in the Middle East & North Africa is gradually clarifying. Clave has contributed to Ethereum standards (such as RIP-7212, EIP-7951) and collaborated with the Ethereum Foundation on ZK-email, and these technical assets will be integrated into Paribu’s existing systems (including their ColdShield custody platform).

For Paribu, the core value of this acquisition is enabling users to directly access DeFi, stablecoins, and staking within the exchange without switching platforms or dealing with complex operations. Clave’s mobile wallet has made significant improvements on key pain points of self-custody:

No need to remember seed phrases (using Passkeys), reducing private key anxiety
No gas fees, making on-chain interactions feel costless
Cross-L2 balance aggregation, avoiding the hassle of switching between multiple chains

The overall integration of engineering and product teams indicates that Paribu does not intend to dismantle the team but to continue building on this technology.

Relationship with Matter Labs will continue: They led the 2024 funding round, recognizing the team’s progress, and integration within the ZKsync ecosystem is expected to persist.
Existing users unaffected: Clave app remains operational, with funds still under user control.
Industry signal: Exchanges are embedding on-chain features like payments and staking to serve users who prefer simplicity over technical complexity.
Regulatory advantage: Paribu’s licenses in Turkey and MENA facilitate compliant feature launches.
Thanks to early supporters: Clave expressed gratitude to Safe Foundation and Mirana Ventures.

Strategically, Paribu is shifting from a platform solely focused on trading to actively embracing a broader on-chain financial ecosystem. Introducing Clave’s team and technology bets on lowering friction, making self-custody mainstream. Regulatory authorities in Turkey are reviewing the acquisition, but timelines are unclear.

Key conclusion: Paribu’s acquisition marks its entry into self-custody wallets, creating an on-chain finance gateway within the exchange to retain and convert users.

Assessment: For Turkey and MENA’s “compliant exchange + self-custody + DeFi” track, this is still early-stage; the biggest advantage lies in quickly connecting AA wallets and compliant products. Short-term traders should wait for product deployment and iteration, while funds can monitor subsequent adoption and retention metrics to decide on positions and entry points.

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