Institutional Digital Asset Wallet Startup Curv Emerges from Stealth; Raises US$6.5M

Curv, a digital asset wallet startup, has emerged from stealth and announced a US$6.5 million seed funding round led by Team8 and Digital Currency Group, with participation from Flybridge Capital, Jump Capital, Monex Group and Liberty City Ventures.

The company, which is headquartered in New York with research and development offices in Tel Aviv, Israel, has developed a secure, distributed architecture for signing transactions, allowing any institution or enterprise to quickly and easily hold and exchange digital assets on public or private blockchains without managing private keys on physical infrastructures.

“Curv is solving the eternal trade-off between security and availability,” said Nadav Zafrir, co-founder and CEO of Team8, a cybersecurity think-tank and company creation platform. “No longer do institutions or enterprises need to maintain physical security that doesn’t scale or hot wallets that are difficult to integrate and secure. Curv gives them a single solution that does it all.”

Curv’s institutional digital asset wallet service, which the company unveiled on Tuesday, is a software-only, cloud-based service that eliminates the need for cold and hot wallets. The solution offers an enterprise-grade policy engine which allows institutions to define risk profiles and enforce granular controls for all employees, machines and wallets, assuring compliance with organizational policies.

The digital asset wallet service has been developed with convenience and rapid deployment in mind, allowing clients to adopt any cryptocurrency or blockchain app without having to worry about investing or scaling the underlying IT infrastructure. It promises financial institutions and enterprises strong security, instant availability and complete autonomy over their digital assets.

“Curv is building best-in-breed technology solutions for digital asset custody,” said Travis Scher, vice president of investments at Digital Currency Group. “The company’s institutional grade wallet, which uses the most advanced cryptographic methods, provides the security and control that institutional investors entering this emerging asset class will expect. We have been extremely impressed with the Curv team and are excited to support this dynamic company.”

Curv’s institutional digital asset wallet service is a subscription service and will be available starting March 25, 2019. The service will include the setup, management and maintenance of the blockchain infrastructure.

It is currently being used in a private beta with exchanges, custodians, fintechs and institutional investors located around the globe.