# Digital asset custody

Digital asset custody is the safekeeping of the private keys that control cryptocurrencies, tokenized assets, and stablecoins, together with the governance that decides who can move them. Because whoever controls the key controls the asset, custody is a key management and governance discipline, not simple storage.

## How banking-grade custody differs from a wallet

A retail wallet stores keys; banking-grade custody adds a hardware root of trust, rule-based governance with quorum approvals, segregated wallets per client, audit trails, and compliance screening on every transaction. Regulators increasingly require that the signing infrastructure itself be certifiable and, in some jurisdictions, deployed domestically.

Taurus-PROTECT provides hot, warm, and cold storage with full private key sovereignty on FIPS-certified hardware security modules, used in production by systemically important banks including State Street, Deutsche Bank, and CACEIS.

FAQ:

- Is digital asset custody the same as holding assets at a bank? Functionally yes, technically no. The custodian does not hold the asset itself; it controls the private keys that can move the asset on the blockchain, under governance rules and audit trails. Key control, not possession, defines custody.

Related: https://www.taurushq.com/protect/ https://www.taurushq.com/security/air-gapped-custody/ https://www.taurushq.com/glossary/private-key-sovereignty/

Learn more: https://www.taurushq.com/glossary/digital-asset-custody/