Onramp, a Bitcoin asset-management platform, announces its official launch, marking a “step-function” improvement in bitcoin custody.
Onramp’s approach to bitcoin custody, product offerings, and research and education aims to establish “a new industry standard for sophisticated investors.”
As noted in an update shared with CI, institutions and individuals face “a dilemma when deciding how to gain access to and safely store Bitcoin.” Self-custody remains an excellent option “for some, but inherent technical challenges and security considerations may not satisfy the preferences and requirements of all investors – while existing, centralized custodial options introduce other considerable risks.”
Onramp, in partnership with BitGo, Coincover, and Kingdom Trust, reportedly “bridges this gap by providing institutional allocators, financial intermediaries, and high net worth individuals (HNWIs) with a trust-minimized custodial solution that leverages bitcoin’s native properties to eliminate single points of failure.”
Early clients of the Onramp custody “include Kingdom Trust/Choice IRA, BitStop, CoinMENA, and Mash.”
At the heart of these offerings is Onramp’s step-function improvement in bitcoin custody.
Onramp’s Bitcoin custody solution “combines the strengths of self-custody with the ease of traditional institutional custody to maximize security while minimizing counterparty risk.”
Onramp’s Multi-Institution Custody “leverages Bitcoin’s battle-tested multisig capabilities to create institutional-grade vaults controlled by three institutional key holders.”
Each key is held by “a different institution with expertise in bitcoin custody and its own independent KYC/AML onboarding and client authentication via the withdrawal process.”
Two of the three keys are necessary “to move the funds in the vault at the direction of the end client.”
In this way, Onramp’s custody solution delivers Bitcoin multisig security while “removing the single-point-of-failure concerns associated with trusting a single custodian with unilateral control.” To build the best multi-institution custody solution possible, Onramp selected “the industry’s most reliable partners.”
Mitch Kochman, Director of Platform Sales, BitGo, said:
“BitGo believes that multi-institution custody can reduce counter party risk and onboard capital on the sidelines to Bitcoin.”
Crucially, while Onramp works with bitcoin custody and multi-sig solutions, the Onramp Multi-Institution Custody solution minimizes “the trust necessary for each institutional key-holder, as none can unilaterally control the assets.”
To date, most institutional allocators “have been wary of entrusting a single custodian with bitcoin and unwilling or unable to set up and maintain a bitcoin self-custody solution.”
The Onramp Multi-Institution Custody solution is “a step-function improvement on existing bitcoin custody options that eliminates these custody challenges and unlocks access to bitcoin for institutional capital allocators.”
All of Onramp’s product offerings are “built with this core value proposition at the center.”
