Inventory of the top 10 crypto custody platforms: the asset defence battle for high-net-worth investors

As the crypto asset market matures, more and more high-net-worth investors are hosting their crypto assets to third-party institutions to ensure the safety of their assets and comply with global compliance requirements. The emergence of crypto asset custody services fills the security, liquidity, and compliance gaps faced by high-net-worth investors in crypto asset management.

But among the many custody platforms, which ones can be trusted by high-net-worth investors? What are the successful application cases for us to learn from?

In this article, Portal Labs will take a look at the top 10 influential platforms in the crypto asset custody industry to help you make informed choices in a complex market.

What is crypto asset custody?

Crypto asset custody, in simple terms, is the safekeeping, management and appreciation of crypto assets through professional institutions. For high-net-worth investors, this is not only an asset protection tool, but also a core service that allows them to focus on strategic investments and optimise asset allocation.

The services provided by the custody platform to investors include:

Cold wallet storage: to ensure a high level of security of assets;
Compliance services: ensuring that assets meet international financial regulatory standards;
Liquidity management: ensure that assets can be flexibly liquidated when needed;
Tax optimisation: Automatically generate tax reports to reduce tax burden.

Compared with using cold wallets for storage, the advantages of third-party custody are:

securityAlthough

cold wallets can technically prevent online hacker attacks, third-party custody provides more comprehensive security guarantees. Through a professional custodian, assets are not only stored in cold wallets, but also enjoy multi-signature technology and insurance protection. In this way, investors will not only avoid hacking, but will also be covered by insurance in extreme cases.

Compliance & TransparencyHigh-net-worth

investors often face global compliance requirements, and custody platforms ensure that investors' assets comply with financial regulations in various countries through compliance measures such as KYC (Client Identity Verification) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering). In addition, the regular audit reports and transparent asset management provided by the custody platform enable investors to know the status of their assets at any time, ensuring compliance and transparency in asset management.

The liquidity tripartite custody platform provides investors with a more convenient way to manage assets. With a custodial platform, investors can adjust their portfolios or liquidate assets more quickly without having to worry about cold wallet access issues. Custodian platforms also typically work with multiple exchanges and financial institutions to ensure the liquidity of assets and the ability to execute trades quickly when needed.

Tax optimisation

hosting platforms typically provide automated tax report generation services to help investors avoid tax risks and reduce tax burdens. In this way, investors can not only ensure asset compliance, but also plan for tax issues on a global scale and avoid potential risks arising from personal management.

Managing the BurdenFor

high-net-worth investors, managing crypto assets is not insignificant and risky, and the 24/7 customer support and account recovery features provided by the custody platform ensure that investors can get help at all times to avoid asset losses due to operational errors or technical issues.

Finally, custody platforms typically support the management of multiple crypto assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, DeFi tokens, and NFTs, among others. This allows high-net-worth investors to complete the management of diversified assets within the same platform, without the need to disperse to multiple platforms, improving management efficiency.

Mainstream crypto custody platformsNow

let's take a look at the 10 most influential crypto asset custody platforms and see their respective advantages and characteristics.

BitGo

founded: 2013Service

Highlights: BitGo is an industry-leading cold wallet custody platform that provides multi-signature and asset insurance services to ensure the highest security of crypto assets.

Target Clients: BitGo provides custody services for a number of world-renowned funds and crypto exchanges, including Gemini and Coinbase.

Target Clients: Mainly serving large institutional investors and high net worth investors, especially those who require a high level of security and compliance.

BitGo has long been favoured by financial institutions and exchanges around the world for its excellent security, compliance support, and liquidity management, and has occupied an important position in the crypto asset custody space.

Anchorage

Founded: 2017Service

Highlights: Anchorage is the world's first crypto asset custody platform to be approved for compliance, providing cold storage and compliant custody services.

Target Clients: Anchorage provides custody services to a number of large asset management companies, financial institutions and large funds, such as Pantera Capital, BlockFi, etc.

Target Clients: Focus on providing custody services to financial institutions, large asset management companies and institutional investors, especially for clients with compliance requirements.

Through its innovative technology and compliance certifications, Anchorage provides institutional investors with secure crypto asset custody services, and is gradually becoming one of the most trusted custody platforms in the crypto industry.

Fidelity Digital Assets

Founded in: 2018Service

Highlights: Fidelity Digital Assets provides crypto asset custody services that combine the stability of traditional finance, supporting cold wallet storage and high compliance services.

Client: Fidelity provides custody services to traditional financial institutions, family offices and institutional-level investors, including Fidelity Asset Management and the New York Stock Exchange.

Target customers: long-term investors, financial institutions, family offices.

Fidelity Digital Assets, part of the financial giant Fidelity, combines the advantages of traditional financial services to become the preferred crypto asset custody platform for institutional investors.

Coinbase Custody

Founded: 2018Service

Highlights: Coinbase Custody provides investors with cold storage and multisig services, ensures the security of crypto assets, and provides insurance coverage.

Target Audience: Coinbase Custody provides custody services to institutional investors, exchanges, and crypto funds, including Pantera Capital, Grayscale, and others.

Target Clients: Institutional Investors, Crypto Exchanges, Investment Funds.

As a subsidiary of Coinbase, Coinbase Custody provides highly secure and compliant custody services that are widely trusted by investment funds and exchanges around the world.

Gemini Custody

Founded: 2015Service

Highlights: Gemini Custody provides custody services that comply with the regulatory requirements of the New York Financial Services Authority (NYDFS) and supports multi-signature and cold storage technologies.

Who Serves: Gemini Custody's clients include crypto funds, large institutions, and financial services companies such as Galaxy Digital and VanEck.

Target Clients: Institutional Investors, Crypto Exchanges, Investment Funds.

Gemini Custody's compliance and high security make it one of the most trusted crypto asset custody platforms in the world, especially in the United States.

Fireblocks

Founded: 2018Service

Highlights: Fireblocks provides industry-leading cold storage and multi-signature technologies, and is focused on providing comprehensive asset management services to institutional investors.

Target Clients: Fireblocks provides custody services to multiple financial institutions and crypto exchanges, with clients including Wellington Management, Revolut, and more.

Target Customers: Financial institutions, crypto exchanges, institutional investors.

Fireblocks' technology combines security and flexibility to provide efficient asset custody and management services to institutional clients.

Trustology

founded: 2018Service

Highlights: Trustology provides customised crypto asset custody services for individual investors and institutional investors, especially for high-net-worth clients.

Target Audience: Trustology's clients include cryptocurrency exchanges and family offices, such as Bitfinex.

Target customers: small and medium-sized investment institutions, high-net-worth individuals.

Trustology is an emerging force in the crypto asset custody industry with a commitment to providing personalised services to high-net-worth clients with special needs.

Ledger Vault

Founded: 2018Service

Highlights: Ledger Vault is the custody platform for Ledger hardware wallets, providing cold wallet storage and multi-signature solutions to ensure asset security.

Who it serves: Ledger Vault provides custody services for crypto exchanges, financial institutions, and crypto funds.

Target Customers: Crypto Exchanges, Financial Institutions, Crypto Funds.

With its hardware security technology and cold storage solutions, Ledger Vault has become the platform of choice for several crypto exchanges and financial institutions.

Luno

founded: 2013Service

Highlights: Luno provides crypto asset custody and trading services, supports a variety of mainstream digital currencies, and ensures the security and liquidity of assets.

Target Clients: Luno's clients mainly include international investors and crypto exchanges.

Target Clients: International Investors, Crypto Exchanges, Small Crypto Funds.

Luno provides crypto asset services in multiple markets around the world, with a high user base in emerging markets, especially in emerging markets.

Bitstamp Custody

Founded: 2011Service

Highlights: Bitstamp Custody provides multi-signature and cold wallet custody services, focusing on providing high-security storage solutions for crypto assets for institutional and bulk investors.

Target Clients: Bitstamp Custody provides custody services to institutional investors, large funds, and crypto exchanges, including CoinShares and Xapo.

Target Clients: Mainly serving large institutional investors, crypto exchanges, and investment funds, especially those who require a high level of security and compliance guarantees.

Relying on Bitstamp's brand and deep background in the global financial market, Bitstamp Custody brings professional services and high credibility to the crypto asset custody field. Its custody services are widely favoured by institutions and funds, making it an important choice for institutional-level investors.

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