Announcing: Onramp Hires Former BitGo Director Mitch Kochman as Chief Revenue Officer to Lead Global Sales Efforts
Michael Tanguma | Chief Executive Officer
Apr 8, 2024
Why I Joined Onramp: To Continue Building Trust Around Multi-Institution Bitcoin Custody
Written By Mitch Kochman
I’m coming to Onramp because I’m certain multi-institution custody will change the way we store Bitcoin and ultimately contribute to its success as the future of money.
As with any new technological breakthrough, custodial solutions in the bitcoin space mimicked the solutions that existed in traditional finance. Centralized custodians like Coinbase, BitGo, and Anchorage secure the majority of institutions’, exchanges’, and individuals’ Bitcoin similar to custodial giants in traditional finance like Bank of New York Melon and State Street. Unlike traditional finance which has government-created guardrails, the ability to reverse errors (often in the form of bailouts), and protections like FDIC insurance, Bitcoin introduces unforgiving finality. Once private keys are mismanaged or funds are stolen, those funds are gone forever.
I spent the last year and a half at BitGo building reliable infrastructure for those impacted by the FTX fallout and providing safe harbor for clients leaving the collapsing custodian Prime Trust. When these events happen in our industry, individuals get hurt and trust erodes, ultimately slowing adoption and bitcoin’s chance of success.
When you zoom out, all centralized institutions are prone to failure, from corporations to governments – it’s a matter of when, not if. It’s one of the core reasons Satoshi invented Bitcoin in the first place. It’s time for Bitcoin’s web2 moment, where solutions are built that were not previously possible. With multi-sig, we have the ability to break away from reliance on one centralized custodian and eliminate single counterparty risk. We can do better and make this industry more resilient, we just haven’t leveraged the technology properly yet.