Ex-Bankers Offer First Hot Wallet for Institutional-Grade Crypto Finance

Trustology, the digital asset custody provider built by former bankers from UBS, BNY Mellon and Bank of America, has released a custodial wallet designed to brave the gamut of decentralized finance.

The first version of the wallet, a suite of technologies called TrustVault, looked like a straightforward crypto wallet phone app, but behind the scenes, the user's private keys were held within clusters of hardware security modules operated by Trustology with verification processes distributed among secure data centers.

The new version works in the browser and is compatible with MetaMask.

To entice institutions to begin using decentralized exchanges, minting stablecoins via MakerDAO or lending and borrowing crypto through Compound Finance, TrustVault now bridges the browser with various decentralized apps on ethereum.

"With blockchain you can come up with a new asset class with different life cycle events, different servicing actions, within hours by creating new smart contracts," said Alex Batlin, CEO and founder of Trustology.

Web browser plug-in tools like MetaMask allow users to sign transactions with a key inside their browser without having to deal with multiple user interfaces.

"A lot of people have been looking for support for DeFi apps, but they have not been able to transact large values because it's too dangerous; the keys are in the browser and can easily be hacked."

Rather than signing with a key inside the browser when the MetaMask extension pops up, the Trustology API switches to a TrustVault plug-in which handles the transaction and the user's signature is returned to MetaMask to submit to the blockchain.

"It's a seamless user experience. You get all the utility of accessing the hundreds of dapps out there; lending, exchanging, creating derivatives," said Batlin, "But with all the safeguarding of the keys, KYC, AML, multi-sig as well on accounts."

If Santander is issuing a bond on ethereum typically prototyping teams will use MetaMask as part of the workflow, going to a web page to purchase the bond and sign transactions.