IBM Slated To Venture Into Crypto Custody

By Rishma Banerjee

IBM, which is a huge name in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency is planning to venture into crypto custody. As per reports published by a New York-based investment firm, Shuttle Holdings, the company is about to launch a beta version of a custody solution for digital assets. This has been developing on IBM’s private cloud and encryption technologies for quite some time but it is important to note that this solution will not be storing cryptos itself, but will be providing those wanting to do so with the necessary tools needed.

Custodians, banks, funds, brokers, family offices and high net worth investors who want to do self-custody, as well as exchanges, has been identified as the potential users of the platform. Shuttle’s chief investment officer Brad Chun said that the firm already has a list of clients who will be testing the beta version of the platform.

He stated that:

“We have a list of selected clients that we are launching limited service with this month,” Chun said. The service is “not open to the public yet and there is a wait list to get into our beta.”

The “Think 2019” conference was used by the company as has an avenue for them to showcase the solution last month. At the conference, Nataraj Nagaratnam, IBM’s CTO and director of cloud security, said that the storage of crypto was a “prime use case for Big Blue’s cloud.” He continued:

“What better example than taking a financial technology that is changing the world. Look at digital assets; how do you secure the data? … [This is] top of mind for a lot of people in the financial industry,”

The fact that IBM will gradually get more and more involved in crypto custody solution has been confirmed by Rohit Badlaney, the director of IBM’s “Z As a Service” cloud solution, who discussed IBM’s involvement in the forthcoming Digital Asset Custody Service (DACS). He stated that:

“For DACS, the on-premise pervasive encryption capabilities offered by IBM LinuxONE was a key differentiator in choosing IBM as the most secure platform for their offering.”