Even though cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, have become much more popular over the last 12 months, they remain extremely difficult to store. Individual holders are required to keep safe a private key, which many forget, lose or have stolen, while many cryptocurrency exchanges have gone out of business, committed fraud or been hacked. It is estimated that, just for Bitcoin, over 2 million coins have been stolen at least once, representing more than USD22bn at today’s prices.

The SILO solution, launched to an audience of over 80 senior bankers in Geneva last night, brings together cutting-edge software from Metaco with cutting edge hardware from Guardtime, a company which specializes in anti-tamper hardware. The patented multi-wallet solution deployed partly on-premise and partly in the cloud is designed to manage multiple accounts with different currencies and includes security protocols such as multi-signature and transaction flow limits. In short, it allows banks to provide clients with the highest-grade protection of their assets while still giving them liquidity to trade and make payments.

Adrien Treccani, CEO of Metaco, commented as follows on the launch,
“There is no question that cryptocurrencies represent the future of money. However, there remains one major flaw, which is likely to get worse now that microprocessor issues have been uncovered: that cryptocurrencies are so difficult to store. The world abounds with examples of bitcoin millionaires who lost their keys or had them stolen. SILO, built exclusively for financial firms, solves this problem and allows individuals to trade cryptocurrencies with true peace of mind while extending the role of banks as custodians into the future.”
Mike Gault, CEO of Guardtime, commented:
“Cryptocurrencies are an important new asset class demanding highly specialist, secure technology. By combining our experience and expertise with that of Metaco, together we have developed the most secure cryptocurrency platform on the market.”
Ben Robinson, Chief Strategy Officer of Temenos which offers SILO to its customers through MarketPlace, its app store, said:
“Already an important store of value and an important asset class for trading and investing, cryptocurrencies will increasingly act as a means of democratizing asset ownership through tokenization. Metaco offers the best, most secure platform for banks wanting to provide cryptocurrency services. Our partnership is key to ensuring Temenos’ clients will play a meaningful role in the future of money.”