Crypto Assets Custody: Taxonomy, Components, and Open Challenges

Abstract

Custody plays a fundamental role for organizations and individuals seeking to access crypto assets (e.g., cryptocurrencies) and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. Custodians store private keys and approve and sign transactions. Crypto asset transactions must be performed efficiently and securely to prevent a ny losses or theft of the assets. This paper presents a survey and taxonomy of the state-of-the-art solutions for this custody problem, highlighting their various features, as well as the open challenges that must be addressed.