Paxos Acquires Fordefi to Strengthen Institutional Crypto Custody

Paxos, the leading blockchain infrastructure platform, announced the acquisition of Fordefi yesterday, November 25. According to the firm’s announcement, the acquisition will allow it to build the custody infrastructure layer to power the on-chain economy.

Why Fordefi Acquisition Matters

Fordefi is an institutional-grade custody and wallet technology provider founded in 2021, which empowers hundreds of institutions to operate securely on-chain.

Similarly, businesses have long relied on Paxos for trusted custodial infrastructure as they enter the on-chain financial economy. In its announcement, Paxos has noted that the digital asset market adoption is continuing to accelerate and that customers now require secure and modular custody solutions.

This is why the Fordefi acquisition is so important, as it combines Paxos’ decade-long expertise in regulated infrastructure and qualified custody with Fordefi’s multi-party computation wallet architecture, policy engine, and deep DeFi integrations.

Paxos says that clients will be able to build upon a single, trusted platforms to issue stablecoins, tokenize assets, and create complex payment flows without sacrificing security or compliance.

Paxos’ co-founder and CEO, Charles Cascarilla, commented on the move saying that he and his team have built Paxos as a neutral, enterprise-grade platform that can usher the world’s leading enterprises into the digital asset economy. Meanwhile, he acknowledged that Fordefi has built an impressive stack and customer base founded on simple-to-use APIs and seamless Web3 connectivity.

“Market participants require a regulated platform partner that meets their range of complex custody needs. Together, Paxos and Fordefi provide customers with a world-class custody solution built upon advanced wallet technology and regulated, qualified custody. We’re excited to welcome Fordefi to our team as we enter this new phase of growth,” Cascarilla noted.

Fordefi Users Will Not Be Affected By The Acquisition

Fordefi was launched as the first institutional-grade multi-party computation wallet with the goal of solving the unique security, connectivity, and policy challenges in the DeFi sector. Moving forward, it will continue to operate its product independently, and its customers can continue to use its product as usual.

Over time, however, Paxos plans to integrate Fordefi’s technology and operations into its own infrastructure.

Fordefi’s CEO, Josh Schwartz, said that Fordefi has created a best-in-class wallet platform that is currently trusted by nearly 300 institutions. Talking about Paxos, he said: “Joining Paxos allows us to bring our technology to an even broader audience while maintaining our focus on security, usability and innovation. Together, we will offer enterprises the unified custody and stablecoin infrastructure they need to deploy real-world digital asset use cases at scale.”