MPC custody software and NYDFS-chartered qualified custody for institutions
Fireblocks Inc. is a private company based in New York. Michael Shaulov, Pavel Berengoltz and Idan Ofrat founded it in 2018 after working at Check Point, where they joined the task force that investigated the 2017 Lazarus Group thefts from South Korean exchanges. Shaulov is chief executive. Berengoltz now serves as chief technology officer, and Ofrat as chief product officer.
Five disclosed funding rounds between 2019 and 2022 raised $1.039 billion. The largest, a $550 million Series E co-led by D1 Capital Partners and Spark Capital in January 2022, valued the company at $8 billion. In October 2026 Fireblocks denied an Axios report that Visa was in advanced talks to acquire it for about $2.5 billion. Calcalist then reported layoffs of about 7% of a workforce of roughly 900.
Two recent acquisitions widened the product. Fireblocks bought Dynamic, whose developer wallet tools power more than 50 million onchain accounts, in October 2025, and announced a deal for crypto accounting firm TRES Finance in January 2026.
The main product is custody software. When a bank or exchange uses Fireblocks, that institution controls the private keys and holds the assets, and Fireblocks says it cannot access or move customer funds. Wallets run on MPC-CMP, the company's own multi-party computation protocol, so a complete private key never sits in one place. Cold and hot storage share the same MPC base.
Cold Wallet spreads key shares across air-gapped iOS devices that never connect to the internet, and signing data moves between devices by QR code. Banks that already run hardware security modules can use KeyLink, which Fireblocks says provides FIPS 140-3 certified cold storage on that hardware. A policy engine enforces approval and signing quorums on every transaction.
The security page lists SOC 2 Type 2 certification with zero material findings and ISO 27001 certification. Fireblocks also holds C4 CCSS QSP Level 3 certification, and NCC Group has audited its cryptographic libraries.
Qualified custody sits in Fireblocks Trust Company, LLC, a limited purpose trust company chartered by the New York State Department of Financial Services for virtual currency business. Fireblocks calls it a qualified custodian under New York law and says it launched with regulatory approval in 2024. Trust clients hold assets in cold storage with offline signing, segregated on a bankruptcy-remote basis. Named users include Castle Island, FalconX, Bakkt and Galaxy.
A second entity, Fireblocks LLC, is registered with FinCEN as a money services business and holds money transmission licenses in 37 states and the District of Columbia. Fireblocks lists eight more states, California and Colorado among them, as not regulating its services or as having issued no-action letters. Its regulated-entities page names no license outside the US.
Product lines cover treasury management, wallet-as-a-service, embedded wallets, stablecoin payments and tokenization. Staking runs through seven validator providers, including Figment, Kiln, Galaxy, Kraken and Blockdaemon, on Ethereum, Solana, Polygon and the Cosmos ecosystem, with liquid staking on Ethereum through Lido. Trust clients can stake from custody accounts through Figment and Kiln.
The Fireblocks Network connects more than 2,000 counterparties and over 30 exchanges. Off Exchange locks collateral in MPC vault accounts and mirrors its value to venues such as Bybit and Deribit, settling gains and losses onchain. Fireblocks cites thousands of assets on more than 200 blockchains, and its developer portal documents the API.
A strong pick for firms that want to run their own MPC custody, with a New York qualified custodian available from the same vendor. Key-loss claims from StakeHound and the Celsius plan administrator are the main caveat.
Fireblocks fits firms that want to run custody in house. An exchange or payment company keeps its own keys while using MPC wallets, a policy engine and transfer channels to more than 2,400 institutions. The New York trust company adds a qualified custody route for funds and advisers, so one vendor can serve both models.
Breadth is the other strength. Supported networks run from Bitcoin and Ethereum to newer chains such as Canton and Sui, and staking and Off Exchange settlement run on the same platform.
Self-custody shifts work to the client. Approval policies and signer devices become the customer's responsibility, and only Fireblocks Trust clients hand day-to-day custody to a regulated entity. Price is a second trade-off. Essentials costs $999 a month for up to six months and covers $1 million of quarterly outbound volume, with a 0.20% fee above that. Custom plans start at $36,000 a year.
Key-loss disputes are the main blemish. In 2021 StakeHound sued Fireblocks in Tel Aviv over keys to 38,178 ETH, and Fireblocks answered that StakeHound generated and stored those keys outside its platform. In March 2026 the Celsius plan administrator asked a New York bankruptcy court to compel discovery from Fireblocks, alleging negligence that destroyed keys to ETH worth tens of millions of dollars. Both matters rest on allegations, and Fireblocks has disputed StakeHound's account.
Fireblocks places other incidents outside its own systems. It attributes the 2023 Fortress Trust theft to a breached third-party tool, and in October 2026 it told clients to update self-hosted components, including the KeyLink agent and the legacy Python SDK, after eight eMudhra certificate authority keys were compromised. It reported no impact on customer assets.
The reported Visa price of about $2.5 billion sits far below the $8 billion valuation of January 2022, though Fireblocks denied the talks.
It suits exchanges and payment firms building their own custody, plus funds and registered advisers that want a New York qualified custodian from the same vendor. Banks that require a federally chartered custodian will not find one here, since the trust charter comes from New York State.
| Custody model | Qualified custodian, MPC, HSM, Self-custody software · unverified |
|---|---|
| Clients | Institutions, Funds, Corporates · unverified |
| Regulated | Yes · unverified |
| SOC 2 report | Yes · unverified |
| Staking | Yes · unverified |
| API access | Yes · unverified |
| Licenses & charters | NYDFS limited purpose trust charter (US), FinCEN MSB registration (US), State money transmitter licenses in 37 states and DC (US) · unverified |
| MPC | Yes · unverified |
| Cold storage | Yes · unverified |
| Qualified custodian | Yes · unverified |
Not disclosed by the provider: KYC required, Insurance, Assets supported.
Data from the provider's website and public sources, checked Oct 28, 2026. Fees and availability change; confirm on the official site before you sign up.
Multi-party computation splits signing across key shares, so no complete private key exists on a single device.
Key shares sit on offline iOS devices, and signing data passes between devices by QR code.
Banks can run FIPS 140-3 certified cold storage on hardware security modules they already operate.
Programmable rules and approval quorums are checked on every transaction before signing.
Collateral stays in MPC vault accounts while its value is mirrored to exchanges such as Bybit and Deribit, with gains and losses settled onchain.
Seven validator providers cover Ethereum, Solana, Polygon and Cosmos networks, with Lido liquid staking on Ethereum.
Treasury management, wallet-as-a-service, embedded wallets and cold wallets run on the same MPC stack.
NYDFS-chartered qualified custody for asset managers, venture funds, banks and ETF issuers, with cold storage and bankruptcy-remote segregation.
Authenticated transfer channels link more than 2,000 counterparties and over 30 exchanges.
Stablecoin payment tools, including Flow and Liquidity Market, run on the same platform.
Tokenization, staking, Earn and Off Exchange settlement extend the wallet platform.
User feedback is virtually absent from discussion channels, which are heavily dominated by official promotional announcements, technical papers, and ecosystem updates. The limited community interactions consist of occasional high-level industry commentary rather than concrete product evaluations.
Based on 50 Reddit posts and comments from the last 12 months, checked Oct 21, 2026. These are posts by users on other sites, not reviews submitted on CryptoReview.
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Its subsidiary Fireblocks Trust Company, LLC is a limited purpose trust company chartered by the New York State Department of Financial Services, and Fireblocks describes it as a qualified custodian under New York law. The main Fireblocks platform is custody software in which the client keeps control of its keys.
Its regulated entities are in the US. Fireblocks Trust holds an NYDFS limited purpose trust charter, and Fireblocks LLC is a FinCEN-registered money services business with money transmission licenses in 37 states and the District of Columbia. Its regulated-entities page lists no licenses outside the US.
Yes. Fireblocks offers staking on Ethereum, Solana, Polygon and Cosmos networks through seven validator providers, plus Ethereum liquid staking through Lido. Fireblocks Trust clients can stake from qualified custody accounts through Figment and Kiln.
The Essentials plan costs $999 a month for up to six months and covers $1 million of quarterly outbound volume, with a 0.20% fee per transaction above that. Custom plans start at $36,000 a year, and Off Exchange costs 3 to 30 basis points on assets under custody.
Fireblocks Inc. is a private company led by co-founder and CEO Michael Shaulov. D1 Capital Partners and Spark Capital co-led its $550 million Series E in January 2022 at an $8 billion valuation, and earlier backers include Paradigm, Coatue, Stripes and Sequoia. In October 2026 Fireblocks denied a report that Visa was in talks to buy it.
Yes. Its security page lists SOC 2 Type 2 certification with zero material findings, along with ISO 27001. In January 2020 Fireblocks said Ernst & Young had completed its SOC 2 Type II examination.
StakeHound sued Fireblocks in Tel Aviv in 2021 over lost keys to 38,178 ETH, which Fireblocks said StakeHound generated and stored outside its platform. In March 2026 the Celsius plan administrator asked a New York bankruptcy court to order discovery from Fireblocks over alleged negligence. Fireblocks attributes the 2023 Fortress Trust theft to a breached third-party provider.
Recent public posts from @FireblocksHQ, shown as published. Not reviewed or endorsed by CryptoReview.
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