Continuity is Key: Speed and Stability for Uncertain Times

In our lifetimes, we’ve seen wars. We’ve seen floods, fires, and hurricanes. We’ve even seen epidemics. But this is different. This is a pandemic. It is global in scope, and it seems to have touched nearly every facet of life for millions. People are scared. The markets are shaken. And crypto has not been immune.

A few weeks ago, as COVID-19 was accelerating in the United States, a number of clients inquired about our business continuity plans. They wanted to know what would happen to our operations, and their ability to access their assets, in a true emergency situation.

Unfortunately, as our country and the world work through a crisis of unknown duration, it has become an important question. In periods of great economic uncertainty, continuity is key. Crypto investors need the ability to respond to market changes in a timely manner. Some need to move funds. Others need to participate in crucial on-chain votes. Everyone seeks the peace of mind that their assets are completely safe. And very few can afford to wait the hours or days it typically takes to transact from cold storage.

At Anchorage, the answer to questions of continuity is a simple one: our platform performs as it always should, whether teams — ours or our clients’ — are scattered across continents, forced to self isolate, or sitting in the same room, at the same table. Untethered from physical vaults, pre-scheduled transaction times, and manual human operations, Anchorage works, even when everyone is social distancing. Together, strong biometric authentication, sophisticated risk factor analysis, and the best of modern security engineering mean that our contingency plans bear a striking resemblance to our everyday operations.

Though we, like many others, find ourselves sheltering in place — with our offices closed, 100% of our team working remotely, and everyday life disrupted — our ability to execute remains unchanged. We designed the Anchorage platform to work from anywhere, under even the most challenging of circumstances. And over the last 30 days, our 90th percentile transaction times have been under 15 minutes, in an industry that tends to measure times in hours or days.

But the same cannot be said for all providers. In recent days, multiple clients have expressed concern about their ability to access assets held in cold storage. Others have been in contact because their self-custody cold storage solutions are hindering operations. Simply put, the need for multiple people to convene to sign transactions has become inadvisable, if not impossible under pandemic conditions, and it’s starting to impede investors’ ability to function. Systems that depend on manual human operations grind to a halt when everyone has to stay home. In a real way, some custody models are creating operational obstacles that should never be there in the first place.

In many ways, Anchorage has been preparing for this kind of scenario from the start. As a company, we’re fortunate to have had the foresight to engineer disaster plans into our product. We’re proud to provide our clients with a service that works, even in worst-case-scenarios, so they can conduct their business without disruptions.

In this difficult time, it is important to maintain perspective — to focus on keeping our team and our clients safe, well, and supported. Although the road ahead may be long and challenging, we take comfort in the knowledge that markets are resilient, the human spirit is indomitable, and we are all in this together.