Instilling trust in a decentralized financial infrastructure

Trust has become a critical element in keeping assets secure, as transactional relationships become less personal, with digital payments relying more on invisible infrastructure.

With the rise of blockchain technology, trust has become an automated part of securing digital assets.

The response to many of these violations has focused on the legal liability of companies offering centralized services - such as hot wallet storage on their exchange - for users to interact with decentralized assets.

While individual retail investors are able to secure digital assets with individual hardware wallets, these products lack the core features required in an enterprise environment.

Ledger Vault, for example, protects institutional investors from the operational risks of trading digital assets so asset managers and custodians can conveniently trade this new class of assets without compromising on security.

Decentralized technology provides users with unparalleled freedoms in transacting, but it also requires them to become cybersecurity experts and asset custodians.

Adopting better storage solutions will enable financial institutions and professional investors to unleash the full potential of digital assets, and will bring much-needed confidence to their shareholders, clients and regulators, as required by such a nascent industry.

Just because an entity can offer services, doesn't mean they should, and the digital asset space stands to gain a higher level of buy-in from external speculators should it decentralize the risk, and support the expansion and specialization of service providers.

Under his leadership, Legacy Trust transformed from a traditional pension and family trustee to a leading provider of custody services for exchanges, OTC desks, investment firms, hedge funds, and various other professional industry participants who may be required by law to store their digital assets with a financial institution like Legacy.

He has an extensive career in the financial services and technology industry, working for S&P Global Market Intelligence as Head of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea, and Shinhan AITAS as a consultant in financial asset custody.