Google to preview crypto custody security system as AI threats grow

Google is previewing a crypto custody security system that utilizes multi-party computation (MPC) to assist financial institutions in safeguarding and transferring tokenized assets and cryptocurrencies.

The product, named Google Multi-Party Compute (MPC), is currently in private preview and is not generally available. Several major financial institutions and design partners are testing the technology. Alphabet, the parent company, has also begun using it to secure its digital assets on Ethereum and Solana.

The system works by fragmenting a private key across separate environments and applying institutional rules before transactions are signed. This design lessens the chance that a single compromised machine could expose assets.

Google plans to make Google Multi-Party Compute commercially available in early 2027, though pricing has not been disclosed. MPC involves splitting a private key into fragments distributed across multiple systems, eliminating a single point of failure.

The new offering integrates MPC-based signing, transaction policies, and key recovery into a dedicated service for digital assets. This differs from existing production services like Google Cloud Key Management Service (KMS) and Cloud HSM.

Rich Widmann, director of digital assets strategy at Google Cloud, stated to CoinDesk, "Digital asset adoption and tokenization are at an inflection point. As regulated financial institutions begin adopting blockchains and tokenization, they need scalable, proven infrastructure to secure their clients’ assets."

Current protections focus on mitigating risks from compromised credentials and unauthorized transactions, as billions of dollars have been lost due to private-key thefts. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis reported that compromised private keys accounted for 43.8% of cryptocurrency stolen in 2024.

The system's architecture is designed to support future upgrades to post-quantum cryptography. While current MPC protections address threats like compromised credentials, researchers warn of potential future risks from AI and quantum computing.

Google's MPC offering supports conventional ECDSA and Ed25519 cryptographic signing algorithms at general availability. A bank could distribute key shares across Google Cloud, its own hardware, and another cloud provider.