Custodial wallet

With a custodial wallet, a provider holds the keys and the customer acts through the provider's app or API. It's how most exchanges, brokers and payment companies hold customer funds, because asking every customer to manage their own keys isn't practical.

"Custodial" covers very different setups, so the label alone says little. The useful questions are:

• Who can move funds? Can the provider send on its own, or only when the customer's rules allow?
• Where do keys live, and can you check that?
• What's been audited, and by whom?

The alternative is self-custody, where you hold the keys yourself.

On Valtu

Valtu is custodial wallet infrastructure for fintechs. Keys are held in hardware enclaves, one set per workspace. Your workspace's policies decide what gets signed: Valtu doesn't approve or co-sign your transfers. With team signing on, your approvers' passkey approvals are checked inside the enclave itself. The security page lists what's done and what isn't yet, including the external audit, which hasn't been done.