Anchorage Digital, a San Francisco-based technology company that provides custody of digital assets, is launching a self-custody wallet for institutions seeking to safely engage in the cryptocurrency markets.
Investor interest in digital assets has jumped significantly over the last two months, spurred by the
Anchorage debuted the mobile and web-based Porto platform on Monday, allowing institutional users to access more than 200 currencies like Aptos, Sui and bitcoin, as well as all current and future tokens built using ethereum's standards.
Security is built into the wallet in a couple of ways. One is called "allowlisting": Authorized users create a list of preapproved wallet addresses and smart contracts with which they will allow their wallet to interact. The other is an authorization mechanism through which users must get approval from a quorum of other administrators before executing any transactions. Users are let into the system through biometric authentication rather than by inputting static usernames and passwords.
"As institutional participation in the digital asset ecosystem continues to grow, so has the demand for an uncompromising self-custody solution. … That is why we built Porto as a safe, secure and accessible self-custody solution in response to demand from institutions and market participants," said Nathan McCauley, chief executive and co-founder of Anchorage Digital.
The wallet is the latest in a wave of product rollouts geared toward increasing institutional engagement with digital assets. Last month, Anchorage Digital began offering block trading of digital assets, through its partnership with the
The firm's qualified custodial entity, Anchorage Digital Bank, will hold the assets, while trading is conducted through its affiliate company, Anchorage Hold.
With the SEC's
The changes would require qualified custodians such as banks to segregate account holders' cash from their digital asset holdings, as well as other modifications reflective of "changes in technology, advisory services and custodial practices [which] have created new and different ways for client assets to be placed at risk of loss," according to the
Professionals across the crypto industry say that for self-custody products to be done right, tools for understanding the impact of transactions and tighter security over ownership of keys to the wallets are essential.
"A good self-custody technology should empower users to always understand what they're signing, and give them tools to build clear policies around wallet usage. … Over time, people should be less tolerant of wallets without built-in policies or clear depictions of what a transaction does," said Conor Patrick, chief technology officer and co-founder of Cordial Systems, which provides institutional-grade self custody software to clients.
Education remains a key hurdle for these offerings, as many institutions "need education and time to get comfortable with self-custodied institutional-grade multi-signature" wallets, said Terrence Yang, managing director at the Calabasas, California-based bitcoin service firm Swan Bitcoin.
With crypto-forward organizations like
