Why Balance Takes the ‘Harder Path’ Building Crypto Technology in-House

In 2022, Canadian crypto custodian Balance celebrated its fifth anniversary with $500 million of assets under custody.

Founded in June 2017, the Toronto-born fintech—which recently moved its headquarters to Calgary—introduced its custody services in a closed pilot in August 2018. A public launch followed one year later.

“Our focus since day one has been to build a world-class custodian for companies working with digital assets,” George Bordianu, who serves as chief executive officer of Balance, has stated.

After growing rapidly, the post-Pandemic downward market “tested our resilience,” Bordianu recalled, “taking our business from a high of $2.5B AUC to a low of $500M at some point.”

This month, Balance announced that it has earned SOC 2 Type 2 compliance as a digital asset custodian.

The upgrade from Type 1 to Type 2 marks a substantial effort from the company, according to Bordianu.

“It took us over two years to progress from a Type 1 to a Type 2,” the cofounder says. “In the end we’re happy we took the harder path and built our solution in-house instead of vending third-party providers.”

SOC 2 Type 2 certifications are widely recognized as the industry standard when it comes to evaluating vendor security.

“Our information security team designed and built a world class control environment to secure your assets,” the firm states online.

Unlike some digital asset custodians which rely on third-party technology solutions, Balance said it had to undergo an “in-depth examination” of its own internal controls and proprietary offline and warm storage solution.

“We don’t have to caveat to every client that our service commitments are achieved only if the controls at our custody technology provider operate effectively,” says Bordianu. “We’re our own technology provider, so we know they operate effectively, as the Type 2 report demonstrates.”

And in addition to high-tech security, Balance also claims $12.5M of coverage toward protecting offline assets against cyber attacks and physical loss, with dedicated warm assets coverage available on demand.

Regarding Balance’s efforts to guard client assets, the CEO said that there is “no substitute for this and I hope our existing and prospective clients enjoy the extra piece of mind this gives them.”