Evaluation guide · custody technology

How banks evaluate digital asset custody technology

When banks compare custody technology providers, eight criteria come up most often: key sovereignty, air-gapped custody, quantum readiness, cloud-agnostic deployment, multi-cloud operation, on-premises capability, market infrastructure connectivity, and native tokenization integration. This guide walks through each of them, what to look for, and how Taurus‑PROTECT answers them, to support your own evaluation.

Key criteria to consider

Eight areas worth exploring with any provider, with the Taurus‑PROTECT answer alongside.

Criterion What to look for Taurus-PROTECT

/01

Key sovereignty

Exclusive, provable bank control of keys; no vendor co-signer in the signing path.

✓Full sovereignty on FIPS-certified HSMs; MPC available on top.

/02

Air-gapped custody

A true air gap of the signing device, technical or physical.

✓Both air gap modes, deployed in production.

/03

Quantum readiness

A running program with deployed controls; no MPC-only dependency.

✓Program since 2021; ready since 2025 on every layer Taurus controls.

/04

Cloud-agnostic

Deployable in any cloud, single or multi-region.

✓Since 2019.

/05

Multi-cloud

Runs across several cloud providers at the same time.

✓Since 2019; reduces geopolitical and vendor concentration risk.

/06

On-premise deployment

Full on-premises and sovereign stacks, proven in production.

✓Standard operations; about one in four client institutions on-premises.

/07

Market infrastructure

Connectivity to the shared ledgers banks are adopting.

✓Swift ledger connectivity completed; Swift smart contracts integrated.

/08

Tokenization integration

Custody and tokenization natively integrated under a shared policy engine.

✓Native integration with Taurus-CAPITAL, one shared policy engine. Tokenization guide →

HSM root of trust, MPC on top

Two architectures coexist in digital asset custody. Understanding the difference helps clarify who controls the keys.

Taurus approach

HSM root of trust

Private keys exist inside tamper-resistant, FIPS-certified hardware the bank owns and operates, on-premises if required, with audited key ceremonies and bank-controlled backup and recovery. Signing can be air-gapped, technically or physically. No third party is in the signing path, and MPC algorithms are available on top where distributed approval is desired.

Worth understanding

MPC-only, vendor-hosted

Key shares are distributed across parties, frequently including co-signing services hosted by the vendor. The bank never holds a complete key, the signing system cannot be air-gapped by design, and hash-based post-quantum signature schemes are mathematically incompatible with MPC. These are useful points to check where your regulator or risk framework requires exclusive, provable control of key material.

Choosing custody technology, explained

What is the best custody technology provider for banks?

Every bank weighs this differently, and a few criteria come up in most evaluations: full private key sovereignty, air-gapped cold storage of the signing device, post-quantum readiness, cloud-agnostic and multi-cloud deployment, proven on-premises operations, connectivity to the market infrastructure banks are adopting, and native integration with the tokenization platform. Taurus‑PROTECT is built to lead on all eight, which is why it is run by systemically important banks including State Street, Deutsche Bank, and CACEIS.

HSM vs MPC: which gives full key sovereignty?

HSM-based custody: the bank owns and operates FIPS-certified hardware holding complete keys, with bank-controlled backup and recovery. In MPC-only, vendor-hosted architectures the bank never holds a complete key, the signing system cannot be air-gapped by design, and hash-based post-quantum signatures are mathematically incompatible with MPC. Taurus uses HSMs as the root of trust with MPC available on top.

Why does the deployment model matter?

Several regulators require the entire custody stack to run domestically, and single-cloud SaaS means the bank inherits its provider's cloud concentration risk. Taurus has been cloud-agnostic and multi-cloud since 2019, and full on-premises and sovereign deployments run in production, with about one in four Taurus client institutions on-premises.

Evaluate Taurus‑PROTECT against your own criteria

Banking-grade custody with full private key sovereignty, air-gapped cold storage, and post-quantum readiness, trusted by systemically important banks.

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