Swan Bitcoin Partners with BitGo to Create USA's First Bitcoin-Only Trust Company
BitGo and Swan Bitcoin announced plans to create the first Bitcoin-only trust company, pending regulatory approval.
- "The new joint venture will combine BitGo's best-in-class Bitcoin cold storage technology and regulatory compliance expertise with Swan's industry-leading capabilities in onboarding, fraud prevention, AML/KYC, and dedicated Bitcoin experts," was stated in the press release.
"We believe the best model for the Bitcoin industry is the same battle-tested model that has been part of the US financial industry for over a century: the separation of exchange and custody. Our teams have worked closely together for nearly a year on stronger qualified custody models. Early in 2023, we recognized the opportunity to establish a Bitcoin-only custodian, combining the unique capabilities of each company and supporting the innovators that will be at the forefront of pushing Bitcoin adoption," BitGo CEO Mike Belshe said.
- "With the market increasingly demanding wallet and custody features that leverage the specific benefits of Bitcoin, Belshe and Klippsten expect to serve company treasuries, asset managers, governments, pension plans, insurers, family offices, and on-ramps like Swan itself that require qualified custodians to serve regulated customer segments like retirement and registered investment advisors."
"The trust company will offer Bitcoin-specific features such as institution-grade advanced wallet management capabilities, more ways for clients to hold their own keys, inheritance planning, and more," Yan Pritzker, co-founder and CTO of Swan, said.
- “Swan encourages and supports self-custody with free, automated withdrawals and world-class client service. The vast majority of Swan clients choose to withdraw to self-custody. With the Bitcoin-specific trust company, we'll finally be able to deliver the product that marries the best of self-custody service with the components that require qualified custody. This has never been achievable before, because existing offerings focus on breadth of token support rather than the absolute best custody for Bitcoin,” the CTO added.
"For years, we've heard from major clients, partners, and other Bitcoin companies that they would prefer a Bitcoin-only software and services stack that is focused strictly on the best custody that leverages Bitcoin's unique features. It's important to us to build a custodian without the risks of securing many altcoins within the same trust company as Bitcoin. We want to do our part to build a dedicated ecosystem for Bitcoin, separate from industry speculators, to allow for innovation in custodial offerings," Cory Klippsten, Swan's CEO, was quoted as saying.
- “We will either acquire an existing trust company, or build one de novo. If we acquire, we aim to be live with customers by Q1. If we build a new trust, we’ll aim for Q3 next year. All pending regulatory approvals, of course,” Kippsten added.
- Addressing the potential acquisition of Fortress by Ripple, Klippsten said Swan is already working to move compliance and settlement to another partner.
- “We’ve been integrating with Bakkt since early 2023 and we’ve already begun transferring some customer segments over. We intend to complete the move from Fortress to Bakkt over the next couple of months.”
