The demand for Ethereum self-custody solutions is increasing, according to Jameson Lopp, co-founder and CTO of Bitcoin wallet provider Casa. Lopp stated in an interview with Cointelegraph at Bitcoin 2023 that Casa has felt compelled to offer Ethereum support due to the growing number of Ethereum users seeking their services.
Lopp said incidents like the 2022 collapse of FTX have heightened awareness of the need for a secure way to store Ethereum and its tokens, such as stablecoins. He said:”I’ve talked to Casa clients who suffered losses from some of last year’s collapses. Those who kept their Bitcoin in Casa did well, but some lost other things, such as stablecoins because they had no way to place them in a distributed cold-storage system.”
To address this issue, Casa announced in December that it would add Ethereum support, despite criticism of the move from some Bitcoin enthusiasts on social media. The company went ahead with its plan because its clients demanded it, according to Lopp.
Bigcoin! pic.twitter.com/csoiNaUYup
— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) May 18, 2023
Lopp explained that users still see self-custody as having a challenging “learning curve.” Although setting up and sending crypto to a wallet is easy, clients may find practicing the proper security habits complex. However, Casa is baking in all best practices into its product, so clients follow the software’s directions, making it easier to manage their crypto assets and avoid catastrophic loss.
According to Lopp, the Casa service is an “extreme-security cold-storage setup with distributed keys” initially designed for wealthy clients spending $10,000 a year on custody but now offering a free version with limited features.
The idea of crypto self-custody started with the first Bitcoin wallet, BitcoinQT, developed by Satoshi. However, many new users prefer to keep their crypto assets with centralized exchanges, despite the risk. To tackle this issue, several wallet providers are working on new tech to simplify self-custody, hoping to attract more users to take control of their crypto assets.
Portions of this story were based on an interview with Jameson Lopp conducted by Sam Bourgi at Bitcoin 2023.
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