Unchained raises $60M to offer collaborative custody Bitcoin services

Texas-based Unchained Capital hopes to undermine single points of failure and mitigate counterparty risk with its substantial $60 million raise, led by Valor Equity Partners.

The bear market grind has not deterred a $60 million raise from a Bitcoin-only company. 

Unchained, a financial services provider for Bitcoin (BTC) holders, has announced a $60 million Series B funding round led by Valor Equity Partners. NYDIG, Trammell Venture Partners, Ecliptic Capital and Highland Capital Partners also participated.

Unchained Capital provides a more secure way to hold fees than storing crypto on centralized exchanges or on a single key solution. The custody model leverages the Bitcoin network’s native multi-signature capabilities in that clients share control of their Bitcoin between private keys they hold themselves and private keys held by Unchained or other financial services companies.

Multisignature solutions eliminate single points of failure and mitigate counterparty risk by sharing it between multiple parties. Simply put, compare the multi-sig process to a safe deposit box with two keys, one held by the customer and the other by the bank.

Single points of failure were a recurring theme during the 2022 crypto collapses: From BlockFi to Celsius to Three Arrows Capital, an array of centralized solutions collapsed, taking users’ funds along the way. Multisig radically reduces risk as no one party can run off with the funds. 

The CEO of Unchained Capital, Joe Kelly, explained:

“Multisig is one of the most important technologies in the ecosystem that can be taken mainstream. It helps to protect individuals from loss and theft, two of the biggest issues for the industry.”

To date, Unchained secures over $2 billion in Bitcoin across thousands of keys globally. Casa, a competitor crypto security company, recently added Ethereum (ETH) to its suite of products. 

Related: 6M Bitcoin Are Secured by Shared Custody

According to the announcement, the $60 million in funding will be used to expand the client base and product offering further. Kelly told Cointelegraph:

“Using this fresh capital investment to expand our reach and suite of services, we hope to enable new entrants to Bitcoin to leapfrog centralized custodians into our safer collaborative custody model.”

Ultimately, the group will hope to further the mantra “not your keys, not your coins.” In light of centralized exchange collapses, greater numbers of Bitcoin and crypto enthusiasts learn to take custody of their assets, and multisig will undoubtedly play a greater role.