On November 13, Blockstream announced a partnership with French technology group Thales to launch a Bitcoin custody solution for institutions. The solution combines Thales hardware security modules (HSMs) with Blockstream’s Secure Multi-Party Computation (Secure-MPC) technology, allowing institutions to sign transactions on dedicated hardware without private keys or key shares ever leaving the hardware boundary. Blockstream co-founder and CEO Adam Back told Cointelegraph that traditional MPC protocols are often too complex and involve too much communication between devices to be suitable for truly offline cold storage. “Complexity is the enemy of security. Going back to basics is the answer—just use cold storage.” The solution is aimed at institutional users such as custody banks and prime brokers, and is currently being tested with a limited number of institutional clients. Its launch comes as the industry focuses on custody security: after Binance’s hot wallet was hacked for approximately $6.34 billion in late October, several institutions are reassessing their key management practices. (Source: Cointelegraph, Crypto Briefing, November 13)$BTC $ETH