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AnchorWatch Trust Company, the Nevada state-chartered arm of Bitcoin custody and insurance firm AnchorWatch, has opened for business as a qualified custodian for Bitcoin, according to Bitcoinmagazine. The company said the Nevada Financial Institutions Division authorised it to act as a custodian, and it began operations on Monday, October 19, 2026.
The service targets fiduciaries, public companies holding bitcoin, trusts and high-net-worth individuals — groups that generally need a qualified custodian before they can hold an asset on someone else’s behalf. Bitcoinmagazine reported that the corporate BTC-holding category has expanded sharply as more companies add the asset to their balance sheets.
Also readAbsa Becomes Africa's First Bank to Offer Bitcoin Custody
Key facts
- AnchorWatch Trust Company opened on October 19, 2026, under a Nevada state trust charter approved by the Nevada Financial Institutions Division.
- Fees are fixed-dollar annual charges tiered by vault size and capped at $10,000 per month; once a client reaches the cap, further bitcoin purchases or price appreciation do not raise the fee.
- AnchorWatch says it can write up to $370 million in insurance limits per ATC client as a Lloyd’s of London Coverholder, with coverage backed by A+ rated Lloyd’s syndicates.
- Two custody models are offered: Flagship Custody, and a multi-institution model splitting key control across AnchorWatch Trust Company, BitGo in the United States and CoinCorner in the Isle of Man.
- The underlying Trident Vault platform has secured customer bitcoin for 20 months, per the company, and has been audited or reviewed by Halborn, Doyensec and the Lloyd’s syndicates’ technical underwriters.
A flat fee instead of a percentage
Most qualified custodians charge a percentage of assets under custody, which means a client’s bill grows as bitcoin’s price rises. AnchorWatch’s structure runs the other way: the yearly charge is set in dollars according to vault size and stops at $10,000 a month. In its announcement, the company said that for large enterprises the cap would translate into potential six- or seven-figure annual savings on qualified custody.
Under Flagship Custody, ATC holds the keys required for qualified custody while the client’s trustees or executives hold additional keys. Under the multi-institution arrangement, which Cryptobriefing describes as a 2-of-3 multisig, any two of the three firms must sign before coins can leave the wallet. The model is aimed at concentration risk at a single custodian, a concern sharpened by past industry failures.
Also readSberbank Wins Bank of Russia Approval to Custody Bitcoin
Insurance written in the client’s name
Coverage is optional and is issued in the covered client’s or entity’s name rather than held by the custodian for its whole book of business. AnchorWatch argues that the client-named structure avoids ambiguity about a client’s position in a claim; Cryptobriefing notes that a shared policy can be stretched thin if many customers file after the same incident.
Perils covered include loss of bitcoin through violent coercion and kidnapping, as well as losses arising from fraudulent acts by AnchorWatch itself. Coverage is subject to underwriting approval and policy terms, and is available to U.S.-domiciled companies and subsidiaries and U.S.-resident individuals. Custody without insurance may be available in a wider range of jurisdictions, subject to KYC and AML requirements.
The two reports diverge on the insurance ceiling for larger clients. Bitcoinmagazine cites limits of up to $370 million per ATC client. Cryptobriefing gives the same $370 million figure for individual clients but reports that enterprise clients may be able to access limits of up to $500 million, a detail it attributes to the company.
Why it matters
Public companies and fiduciaries that hold bitcoin face two recurring problems: a custody bill that climbs with the asset’s price, and the risk that all their keys sit with one firm. A flat-dollar cap addresses the first, and the three-party signing setup addresses the second. Insurance issued in the client’s own name, rather than pooled across a custodian’s book, is a third point of differentiation in a market where large holders have grown more selective about counterparties. The question is how much of this rests on terms and underwriting rather than headline numbers: the insurance limit is a ceiling, not a guarantee.
What to watch
The test is whether corporate treasuries and registered fiduciaries actually switch custodian, since the fee cap only pays off at large vault sizes. Watch also for disclosures on how many clients have cleared underwriting for client-named policies, and for the scope and outcome of any further independent review of the Trident Vault platform.
Sources: Bitcoin Magazine, Cryptobriefing
