Google previews crypto custody system for banks as AI threats rise
Alphabet is already using the multi-party computation service to secure its own assets on Ethereum and Solana. The technology is expected to be commercially available in early 2027.
Key takeaways
- 1Compromised keys caused 43.8% of all stolen cryptocurrency in 2024
- 2Blockchain projects have lost a total of $16.69bn to hacks and exploits
- 3Alphabet is using the system for assets on Ethereum and Solana
- 4AI-linked scams took an average of $3.2m per operation in 2025
- 5Roughly 6.9 million Bitcoin are currently vulnerable to future quantum attacks
Google showcased a new security system for banks to safeguard and move digital assets at a symposium in New York on 28 October. The product, called Google Multi-Party Compute, is currently in private preview and is being tested by several major financial institutions.
The system uses multi-party computation to split a private key into fragments distributed across separate environments. This removes the single point of failure that occurs when a single machine holds a full key. A bank could hold one share on its own hardware, another in Google Cloud, and a third with a different provider to ensure redundancy. Google said customers retain control of their keys and the company cannot access them in unencrypted form.
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has already started using the technology to secure its own digital assets on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains. The company did not specify which assets it holds or the names of the financial institutions currently testing the system. It plans to make the service commercially available in early 2027.
The move addresses a vulnerability that led to 43.8 percent of all stolen cryptocurrency in 2024, according to Chainalysis. Data from DeFiLlama indicates that blockchain projects have lost a total of $16.69bn to exploits. Recent attacks on the Resolv protocol and the Humanity Protocol resulted in losses of $25m and $32m respectively because of stolen keys. The breach at Humanity Protocol also caused the project's token to fall by more than 80 percent.
Google is positioning the service as a defence against cyberattacks driven by artificial intelligence and the future threat of quantum computing. CoinDesk reported that AI-linked scams extracted an average of $3.2m per operation in 2025. Ethereum researcher Justin Drake said advances in AI could eventually uncover mathematical shortcuts that break the digital signatures protecting Bitcoin and Ethereum wallets.
The system allows institutions to check transactions against preset rules before they are signed. This can prevent transfers that violate approval requirements or exceed limits. Rich Widmann, director of digital assets strategy at Google Cloud, said regulated financial institutions need scalable infrastructure to secure client assets as they adopt tokenisation.
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