Ledger Vault: NYC office Brings Crypto Security to Institutional Investors
Today, we announced that Ledger has expanded its U.S. presence to New York City and my appointment to lead global business unit operations for Ledger Vault, which will be headquartered from the new office. A multi-authorization cryptocurrency self-custody management solution built to secure large amounts of various digital assets, Ledger Vault is the preeminent enterprise security solution for financial institutions.
Custom Operating System Provides Foundation for Security
The Ledger Vault provides state-of-the-art-security by integrating the company’s custom operating system, BOLOS, directly into the hardware security module — making it the only crypto-asset protection company to combine secure hardware with its own custom operating system. Ledger Vault provides the information technology infrastructure for firms to completely manage and control their cryptocurrencies, allowing custodians, asset managers and traditional financial services firms to store and trade their digital assets.
Ledger Vault Provides the Same Security of the Ledger Nano S, but at Scale
We quickly noticed that asset managers were securing hundreds of millions on hardware wallets with no convenient and efficient way to implement a meaningful segregation of duty. This hindered the growth of the segment by exposing the funds to an operational risk far above the appetite of the average investor.
We launched the Ledger Vault to provide the same level of security that our 1.4 million Ledger Nano S hardware wallet users have come to know, but at scale for financial institutions, asset managers and family offices.
At Ledger, we think that professional investors should not have to sacrifice convenience for security. The Ledger Vault leverages two key components at the core of our DNA, a flexible operating system designed to run in secure hardware, and the design and manufacturing capabilities of the required secure hardware.
Providing Users State-of-the-Art Security without Sacrificing Speed or Convenience
So how does it work?
First, during the onboarding phase, a client designates 3 shared owners who each create a seed, which together, generate the Vault’s master seed.
Then, the shared owners grant access to Administrators to create accounts, enable and disable governance rules, and decide on the multi-authorization scheme for each of the accounts. Any action performed by an administrator requires the authorizations from other administrators.
There is a single administration rule (m-of-n) per wallet, which is decided during the onboarding phase. Administrators have significant control and precautions must be taken to avoid collusion between employees, as well as to protect the devices of each administrator.
Administrators can create operators, who are employees in charge of the creation and approval of transactions. Operators can be enabled to transact on multiple accounts by the Administrators and must comply each time with the account specific multi-authorization scheme. As all parties involved directly with the Ledger Vault platform, the actions are confirmed on an assigned Ledger device requiring to be secured with care.
Fully Secured, Easily Accessible
Third party auditors can sleep at ease, having access to the Vault data and the possibility to validate the information on the blockchain. This means the end of penny tests as proof of possession of the digital assets. Data that can be accessed transparently and fed to the relevant applications for accounting and administration is a major step toward sustainable operations.
The security framework leveraging the Ledger devices and the Vault is agnostic of the underlying cryptocurrency. Enterprise thereby avoid fragmentation in their solution portfolio and can only proceed with a single solution validation. In order to ease that process, Ledger is pursuing relevant certifications proposed by security evaluation labs. While getting to the certifications is a journey that will require time and commitment, it will provide the needed reassurance to Ledger customers and stakeholders.
As crypto becomes more widely adopted, it is critical that enterprise-level solutions scale accordingly. Ledger Vault is enabling a new era in financial services. At last, the industry is able to take advantage of the opportunities offered by cryptocurrencies, confident that their digital assets are fully secured and easily accessible.
