custody

According to CoinDesk, Google will launch its Google Multi-Party Compute (MPC) security service at the first digital asset seminar held in New York on Wednesday, helping financial institutions such as banks to store and transfer cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets.The product is currently in a private preview phase, with several financial institutions testing it. Its parent company, Alphabet, has used it to protect its digital assets on Ethereum and Solana, with plans for commercial use in early 2027, and pricing has not yet been disclosed. The system splits private keys into multiple shards, which are stored across different systems, requiring checks against pre-set institutional rules before transaction signing, and supports ECDSA and Ed25519 algorithms.

According to Solid Intel, Brazil's largest bank Itaú Unibanco has become the first bank to officially engage in cryptocurrency trading and custody services under the new regulations set by the Central Bank of Brazil. The bank has reported the relevant business to the Central Bank of Brazil on Tuesday, ahead of the deadline of October 30.

According to a statement released by Predict.fun on the X platform, a small number of user wallets experienced unauthorized fund transfers, with total losses amounting to approximately 400,000 USDT. Preliminary investigations indicate that an API documentation website hosted by a third-party service provider may have been compromised, affecting a small number of users in a short period.The website has been taken offline and will remain closed until the investigation is complete. Predict.fun promises to fully compensate users who have directly suffered losses due to this incident and will release a complete review report and subsequent preventive measures after the investigation concludes. Predict.fun is a prediction market platform based on the BNB Chain.

According to an official announcement from Ripple, Bank of New York Mellon (BNY) has supported XRP and the US dollar stablecoin RLUSD on its digital asset custody platform. Eligible institutional clients can custody, hold, and transfer related assets through this platform. The two parties are further expanding their digital asset collaboration based on the existing RLUSD reserve custody and Ripple Prime custody partnership.BNY plans to expand support for tokenized assets and investment products on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and collaborate with Ripple, allowing clients to directly mint and redeem RLUSD through BNY in the future. Additionally, both parties are exploring XRPL-based supply chain financing solutions with the working capital platform C2FO, tokenizing trade financing assets such as accounts receivable to broaden investor participation channels.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has finally approved the application related to Ripple National Trust Bank. This approval will provide Ripple with a business platform under a federal regulatory framework to support its dollar stablecoin RLUSD and offer digital asset custody services to enterprise clients.Garlinghouse noted that this move reflects the integration of the cryptocurrency industry with the traditional banking system, emphasizing the importance of innovation, accountability mechanisms, and federal regulation.

Blink Wallet, a Bitcoin wallet, announced a monthly idle fee of $1 for custodial accounts that have not logged into the app for 12 consecutive months. This adjustment was initiated at the beginning of September through a change in the terms of service and push notifications were sent to inactive users, with the first deduction completed in mid-October. According to a blog post released by the company, users who log back in within 12 months will have the deducted fees refunded.This fee applies only to custodial accounts and aims to alleviate the burden that inactive accounts place on the startup. The announcement stated that these accounts incur ongoing costs related to ledger and infrastructure maintenance, record verification retention, compliance monitoring and reporting, as well as support for claims, which were previously shared by active users through regular in-app transaction fees. Sources told Bitcoin Magazine that approximately 100,000 accounts met the criteria for inactivity at the time of the first deduction, with a total balance exceeding $800,000. The first deduction collected about $45,000, primarily from accounts that had been idle for over a year with small Bitcoin balances. Blink Wallet originated from the Bitcoin adoption wave in El Salvador, initially named Bitcoin Beach Wallet, and was an early custodial Lightning Network wallet that introduced the Stable Sats feature to hedge value against the US dollar. The wallet was spun off from the founding company Galoy in October 2024, operated by Lukas Duczko and a new board, with Duczko holding a controlling stake, while Galoy continues as a service provider and minority shareholder, also establishing the Bitcoin Beach Fund.In recent years, custodial wallets have faced overall pressure, with Wallet of Satoshi, Alby, and Blue Wallet successively halting custodial wallet services and shifting to self-custody infrastructures like Spark. The EU MiCA regulations regarding licensing and KYC compliance requirements are an important backdrop. Blink launched a self-custody wallet supported by Spark in June 2026, and its user base is still adapting to this transition. On September 19, hackers withdrew 6.61 Bitcoins from custodial wallet users through compromised management tools, and the company's investors subsequently announced that they would fully compensate affected users.

According to Chainlink's official blog, Chainlink has officially launched the CustodySync solution, allowing qualified custodians to enable their institutional clients to participate in the DeFi lending market under the premise of asset retention custody. Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered digital asset bank in the United States, is the official launch partner.This solution publishes custody balances on-chain through Chainlink Proof of Reserve and issues tokenized certificates representing custody assets with transfer restrictions as collateral in the lending market; the custodian and the lending protocol calculate the Loan-to-Value (LTV) based on the same price data from Chainlink Data Feeds and Data Streams, with the designated collateral agent executing sales when liquidation is triggered. Chainlink states that the current scale of digital asset custody is approximately $700 billion, with deposits in the DeFi lending market exceeding $80 billion and active loans over $30 billion.

US licensed brokerage and tokenized stock infrastructure service provider Alpaca tweeted that its entity Alpaca Clearing & Custody ME Ltd (Alpaca Middle East) has received in-principle approval (IPA) from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) for its financial services license application.After obtaining the financial services license, Alpaca Middle East plans to provide brokerage services and virtual asset custody services within the scope of the final approval from the FSRA. Alpaca stated that in-principle approval is not equivalent to a financial services license, and Alpaca Middle East is not permitted to conduct regulated activities within or from the ADGM until the relevant license is obtained.

The parent company of Kraken, Payward, has received preliminary approval from the Kazakhstan AFSA and plans to offer digital asset trading, investment trading, and custody services through Payward Kazakhstan at the Astana International Financial Centre. After obtaining the final license, local users will also have access to Kraken's global order book and major market liquidity.

According to Axios, Visa is in talks to acquire the cryptocurrency asset custody infrastructure company Fireblocks, with a deal valuation of approximately $2.5 billion. If the deal is finalized, it will further expand Visa's presence in the digital asset custody and blockchain payment infrastructure sectors.Currently, this news is pending further confirmation, and the specific terms and progress of the acquisition negotiations have not been disclosed.

According to The Block, Standard Chartered has signed a final agreement to acquire 100% of the equity of the cryptocurrency custody institution Zodia Custody, with the transaction pending regulatory approval.Under the arrangement, Zodia Custody's custody business will be integrated into Standard Chartered, while its software business will be transferred to an independent company supported by Standard Chartered's venture capital division, SC Ventures.

According to The Block, the qualified Bitcoin custodian licensed in Nevada, AnchorWatch Trust Company, has officially launched Bitcoin custody services. Its custody fees are based on a fixed amount pricing model, with a maximum of $10,000 per month, and it can provide optional insurance coverage of up to $370 million for each client.Its client base includes trustees, publicly traded companies, trust institutions, and high-net-worth individuals with qualified Bitcoin custody needs.

Financial technology company Ramp announced that it submitted an application to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on October 16 to establish Ramp National Trust Bank. If approved, the trust bank license will allow it to provide fiduciary investment management and digital asset custody services, bringing it under a unified federal regulatory framework.In addition, the proposed entity will not engage in accepting deposits or issuing commercial loans.

The German Savings Bank Group Sparkassen has opened Bitcoin trading through DekaBank's banking application. DekaBank currently lists five savings banks participating in this service, and over 230 savings banks have expressed their intention to participate.According to information disclosed by DekaBank, each Bitcoin transaction incurs a fee of €0.99 plus a spread, and withdrawals are limited to custodians approved by them. DekaBank is a securities service and asset management institution under the German Savings Bank Financial Group, and this time it directly connects Bitcoin trading to the existing banking applications of the savings banks.

Deutsche Bank is nearing the launch of institutional-grade cryptocurrency custody services, expected to begin serving institutional clients within weeks, initially targeting German companies and professional investors, supporting assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, with technology co-developed by Swiss digital asset infrastructure company Taurus.This service is not aimed at retail cryptocurrency trading applications, and the related plans still require regulatory approval. Deutsche Bank has also discussed the possibility of tokenized deposits, digital securities, and expanding to Asian financial centers by 2027.

According to Cointelegraph citing Reuters, Deutsche Bank plans to launch Bitcoin and Ethereum custody services within weeks and aims to expand its business in Asia by 2027.

On October 12, the Central Bank of Russia clarified in its updated guidelines that individuals are not allowed to withdraw cryptocurrency from regulated digital accounts to self-custodied wallets. The Central Bank stated that this restriction is based on Article 31(9) of the new Russian cryptocurrency market law (Federal Law No. 282-FZ), which will take effect on September 1, 2026. Digital accounts are statutory accounts used to record crypto assets, and digital custodians are registered institutions that register and transfer these assets and provide access to wallet addresses.This restriction applies to the withdrawal of funds under the regulated custodial system in Russia. For withdrawals from ordinary investment accounts, the rules cover resident individuals and do not provide exemptions for qualified investors. According to Article 31, individuals who pass the required tests and receive risk disclosures can transfer cryptocurrency to wallets managed by legally authorized foreign custodians, which is different from withdrawing to personal wallets outside of institutional custody. The law also sets exceptions for foreign trade settlements and mining.The Central Bank also stated that transfers between individuals using addresses managed by digital custodians are not allowed, including transfers generated from transactions between individuals. The aforementioned provisions belong to the general cryptocurrency market law and are not rules applicable only to participants in experimental projects. The Central Bank indicated that direct peer-to-peer transactions between individuals are only permitted until July 1, 2027, when Article 30(1) will take effect; thereafter, residents who are not authorized as intermediaries in the cryptocurrency market must complete transactions through or with the participation of authorized intermediaries, with optional channels including licensed brokers and operators of cryptocurrency exchanges listed in the Central Bank of Russia's registry.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has launched a public consultation on proposed capital, custody, and trading requirements for cryptocurrency platforms. The related rules aim to align with the digital asset legislation passed in April and expand regulation of the industry. The proposals include three capital models, restrictions on platforms conducting proprietary trading, and quarterly reporting of wallets holding customer assets.ASIC also intends to allow offshore custody and is seeking opinions on safeguards in the event of the failure of overseas parent companies or affiliates. One of the models requires platforms that do not adopt qualified third-party custody arrangements to hold at least AUD 14 million (approximately USD 9.7 million) in net tangible assets or 10% of average revenue, whichever is higher. Feedback is due by November 27, and ASIC plans to release final standards and guidelines in March 2027. The related laws will take effect on April 8, 2027, and operators must apply for licenses by October 7 of the same year, with the ability to continue operations during the ASIC review period.

Sui lending protocol Scallop announced the launch of the browser wallet Scallop Wallet. This wallet is a self-custody product and is now available in the Chrome Web Store.According to the official introduction, users can manage assets, exchange or purchase cryptocurrencies, compare lending rates within the Sui ecosystem, and track their positions in Scallop, all within the same wallet.