The ‘Great Lockdown’ Is Boosting Demand for Bitcoin Custody Solutions

Thanks in part to the uncertainty of the coronavirus crisis and rising bitcoin prices, bitcoin wallet startups have seen a sudden uptick in activity. 

For example, over the past two months the Austin, Texas-based bitcoin startup Unchained Capital, with over $50 million in assets under management and $150 million worth of bitcoin transactions processed, garnered several dozen new institutional clients, representing hundreds of individuals. Will Cole, Unchained’s chief product officer, said the custody product Vault saw 340% growth in Q1 2020 as compared to the previous quarter. 

“We’ve seen a big uptick in the creation of Vaults,” Cole said. “An event like that [pandemic] makes people think about how they are storing their bitcoin.”

Unchained is working on a wallet update with new privacy features. It allows users to sort UTXO (unspent transaction output) information, which makes it possible to reveal less information about oneself to an external recipient, even while…