Vontobel, one of the largest private banks in Switzerland, has announced the launch of a custody solution for digital assets called Digital Asset Vault.
The press release states: “So far, no traditional custodian in the market has had a solution that meets the standards required of financial intermediaries in terms of security of custody of digital assets and end-to-end service offerings.”
To meet the standards required by financial intermediaries, Vontobel has made a solution based on Hardware Security Module (HSM) technology and embedded it in their banking infrastructure.
A Hardware Security Module is a physical computing device that provides safeguarding and management for private keys. Typically, these modules are external devices that will plug into computers or network servers.
Vontobel call this integration a “new Digital Asset Vault business solution,” and claim they are “the first bank in the world to offer industry-standard quality standards within the established and regulated environment.”
The press release details how Vontobel enables their customers to integrate this solution for digital assets. In doing so, it provides them with an “alternative to the previous personal registration and custody of providers of digital assets.”
Vontobel also note how private key storage is not necessary with their solution. However, this is only true insofar that the hardware module generates them itself. It is unclear how secure private keys that have been imported will be.
The solution also grants customers the ability to buy, sell, and transfer by order in “compliance with Global and Best Execution.”
Roger Studer, head of Vontobel Investment Banking, stated: “The Digital Asset Vault is a logical evolution that extends our digital assets offering. With our innovative strength and experience, we have closed the existing gap between existing and digital assets.”
Vontobel is Switzerland’s third largest provider of custody and execution of business-to-business (B2B) services.
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