Bitcoin Custody for Family Offices: How to Evaluate Providers
Jackson Mikalic | Head of Business Development
A family office moving bitcoin off Coinbase should compare two models: a single qualified custodian (Coinbase Prime, Fidelity Digital Assets, BitGo, Anchorage Digital), where one institution signs, and multi-institution custody (Onramp), where two of three independent institutions must act. Judge each on who can authorize withdrawals, what audit reports exist, whether the bitcoin sits in a wallet titled to the entity, and what happens when a principal is no longer around.
A family office moving bitcoin off Coinbase has five credible providers to evaluate. Coinbase Prime, Fidelity Digital Assets, BitGo, and Anchorage Digital are single qualified custodians, where one institution signs. Onramp operates multi-institution custody, where two of three independent institutions must act. For an entity, the deciding questions are about governance: who can move the bitcoin, what the auditor can verify, whose balance sheet it sits on, and what happens when a principal is no longer around.
Start With Governance, Not Sovereignty
An individual mostly decides how much control to keep. A family office needs an arrangement that holds up under its operating agreement, its auditor, and its succession plan.
Who is authorized to sign. Withdrawal authority should follow the office's resolutions, not one person's phone. Ask how many people must sign off, whether rules change with the amount, and how users are added and removed.
What the auditor and the LP letter need. Auditors generally want independent proof that the bitcoin exists and belongs to the entity, statements, and SOC reports, often a SOC 1 Type II. Co-investors and limited partners will ask where the bitcoin sits and who can move it.
How it appears on the balance sheet. Under US GAAP, ASU 2023-08 generally carries bitcoin at fair value. The custody question underneath is whether the entity owns specific bitcoin or holds a claim on a provider's books.
What happens when a principal is no longer around. In an entity, that should be a governance event handled by the operating agreement or trust instrument. If the principal holds keys personally, those documents don't reach them.
Why segregation matters more for an entity. For an individual, a pooled (omnibus) account mainly matters in an insolvency. For an entity it also shapes the audit, because a segregated wallet titled to the entity can be confirmed on-chain at any time, and it shapes fiduciary duty.
The Providers, Honestly Compared
The tradeoffs between custody models are covered in Bitcoin Custody for $500K to $10M. Below, each provider is described from its own published materials.
1. Coinbase Prime
Cost: contact sales; pricing isn't published.
What you get: the shortest move. Custody sits with Coinbase Custody Trust Company, a New York-chartered trust company regulated by NYDFS and a qualified custodian, with SOC 1 Type II and SOC 2 Type II audits. Separate initiator and approver roles, consensus approvals, video verification, and transfer policies. High-net-worth individuals and family offices are a named segment.
What you take on: one institution signs. Prime Custody holds client assets in an omnibus structure, legally segregated but operationally commingled, with no per-client on-chain address. Prime Vault uses dedicated addresses.
Fits: offices that trade actively and want institutional controls. Does not fit: offices leaving Coinbase to reduce dependence on one company.
2. Fidelity Digital Assets
Cost: not published.
What you get: Fidelity Digital Assets, National Association, which says it was granted a national trust bank charter by the OCC in 2025. Offline, cold-vaulted, multi-site storage, annual SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2 audits, and single and multi-family offices as a named segment.
What you take on: one institution signs. Fidelity's custody page doesn't say whether client bitcoin sits in segregated on-chain wallets or in an omnibus account tracked on its books, and in 2023 it published a paper making the case for the omnibus model. Ask before you move.
Fits: offices already inside the Fidelity relationship. Does not fit: offices that require an on-chain wallet titled to the entity, unless Fidelity confirms that structure.
3. BitGo
Cost: contact sales; basis points on average monthly assets under custody, plus a monthly minimum where the contract sets one.
What you get: BitGo Bank & Trust, N.A., an OCC-chartered national trust bank. Qualified custody is fully cold, segregated, and structured to be bankruptcy-remote, with whitelists, limits, and multi-layer approvals. BitGo's insurance applies only where BitGo holds all the private keys to a wallet.
What you take on: in that configuration, one institution holds every key. BitGo's self-custody wallets put key management back inside the office.
Fits: offices that want a federal charter and granular policy controls. Does not fit: offices trying to remove single-institution signing without running keys themselves. (Disclosure: BitGo is one of the institutions in Onramp's individual roster.)
4. Anchorage Digital
Cost: contact sales. One public data point, an SEC-filed corporate treasury agreement from July 2025, charges 30 basis points under $10 million, graduated to 15 above $500 million, with a $3,000 monthly minimum. That is one negotiated contract, not a rate card.
What you get: Anchorage Digital Bank N.A., with a federal bank charter from the OCC. Segregated, bankruptcy-remote custody, biometric approval from the client's quorum, SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type II, and family offices as a named segment.
What you take on: one institution's hardware signs once your quorum endorses. A percentage fee grows as bitcoin appreciates.
Fits: larger offices that want a bank charter and per-vault rules. Does not fit: offices for which the monthly minimum is a large share of the position.
5. Onramp (multi-institution custody)
This is Onramp's model, so weigh it accordingly. Three institutions protect the entity's bitcoin. No one of them can lose it, move it, or use it, and nothing moves without your permission. Multi-institution custody works like a bank vault that needs two keyholders to open: it takes two of the three (Onramp, Tetra Trust, and CoinCover) to move your bitcoin. Onramp, Tetra Trust, and CoinCover each secure a key offline, never on a consumer device, in a 2-of-3 multisig. No one at the office holds a key.
Onramp is a custody solution, not a custodian. Tetra Trust is an Alberta trust company, regulated by Alberta Treasury Board and Finance, and describes itself as a qualified custodian under Canadian law. If your regulator requires a specific custodian of record, confirm the arrangement with Onramp before you move.
Cost: see Onramp's pricing.
What you get: a segregated vault titled in the entity's name, verifiable on-chain at any time. Owner, admin, and view-only roles. An approval policy, which the office sets up, puts a second person on withdrawal requests, and custom approval rules set how many people must sign off. Control follows the ownership documents filed at onboarding, so when a principal is no longer around, the people named in those documents keep control, with no keys to recover. Onramp holds $1B+ in bitcoin under Multi-Institution Custody and has a SOC 2 Type I report, with monitoring on its public Trust Center.
What you take on: a younger, smaller firm. A SOC 2 Type I report rather than Type II, and no SOC 1. Bitcoin only. Withdrawals are slower by design: each one is verified by video with the custody institutions, on top of the office's own approvals.
Fits: offices that want no single institution able to move the bitcoin, in a vault the auditor can confirm on-chain. Does not fit: offices that need a SOC 1 Type II report now, multiple assets, or a specific custodian of record that Onramp can't confirm.
The Comparison, Plainly
| Coinbase Prime | Fidelity Digital Assets | BitGo | Anchorage Digital | Onramp | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charter | NY trust company | National trust bank | National trust bank | National bank | Custody solution; Tetra Trust is an Alberta trust company |
| Who can move bitcoin | One institution | One institution | One institution | One institution, after client quorum | Two of three institutions |
| Wallet structure | Prime Custody omnibus, legally segregated; Vault has dedicated addresses | Not stated; ask | Segregated | Segregated | Segregated, titled to the entity |
| Audit reports | SOC 1, SOC 2 Type II | SOC 1, SOC 2 Type 2 | SOC 1, SOC 2 Type II | SOC 1, SOC 2 Type II | SOC 2 Type I |
| Public pricing | No | No | Method only | One SEC filing | See pricing |
Where Onramp Fits, and Where It Does Not
Onramp fits a family office holding bitcoin as a strategic, long-term allocation whose main worry is a single point of failure: one institution being compromised, or one person in the office managing the keys alone. It is the wrong choice for an office that wants to invest beyond bitcoin or keep all its digital assets with one provider. Many offices use both: a trading account at a prime broker, and multi-institution custody to protect their long-term holdings. For trust-owned holdings, see bitcoin dynasty trusts; for a failure scenario, see What Happens if Onramp Goes Away.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a family office move from Coinbase to Coinbase Prime instead?
Yes. Coinbase Prime is Coinbase's institutional platform, and family offices are a named client segment. It adds institutional approvals and qualified custody through Coinbase Custody Trust Company. It does not reduce exposure to Coinbase as one institution.
Does a family office need a qualified custodian?
It depends on registration. Single-family offices that meet the SEC's family office rule are generally outside the Investment Advisers Act and its custody rule. Registered advisers, including many multi-family offices, generally need one. Ask each provider which entity is custodian of record.
What will our auditor ask a custody provider for?
Typically proof that the bitcoin exists and belongs to the entity, statements, and SOC reports, often SOC 1 Type II. A segregated wallet titled to the entity can also be confirmed on-chain directly.
What happens to the office's bitcoin if a principal is no longer around?
A family office holds its bitcoin through an Onramp business account, so control follows the office's structure, not one person. Owner, admin and view-only roles set who can do what. An approval policy can put a second person on every withdrawal request, and custom approval rules set how many people must sign off. If a principal is no longer around, the people named in the office's ownership documents keep control, with no keys or seed phrases to recover. Offices can also hold their bitcoin through a trust.
Is the bitcoin on the provider's balance sheet?
It should not be. Ask whether holdings sit on-chain in a wallet titled to the entity or in an omnibus account tracked in the provider's books. That decides what the entity owns if the provider fails. See whether bitcoin can be clawed back in a bankruptcy.
Can a family office use more than one provider?
Yes, and many do. Two providers also mean one provider's failure cannot reach all of the office's bitcoin.