Google Previews Multi-Party Compute, a Key-Splitting Crypto Custody System for Banks

Google unveiled Multi-Party Compute, a key-splitting custody system for institutional crypto holdings, at its first digital assets symposium in New York on October 28, 2026.

How the key-splitting system works

With Multi-Party Compute, the private keys that control crypto wallets are never held in full by a single party. A bank could hold one key share on its own hardware, a second in Google Cloud and a third with a rival cloud provider. A transaction is only signed when a defined threshold of shares comes together, with setups such as two-of-three or five-of-seven, reportedly. Google says it has no access to the keys; the company presents this as its own assurance rather than an independently audited claim.

Why banks lose money to key theft

The security rationale is the starting point of the pitch: in a large share of hacking incidents, losses begin with stolen or mismanaged private keys rather than with attacks on the blockchain itself. Key theft has hit exchanges, custodians and corporate treasuries, and it echoes other credential-focused attacks on crypto infrastructure, such as the USB cryptomining attack. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis tracks such thefts, and DeFiLlama data reportedly shows the scale of losses across decentralized platforms.

For banks weighing digital asset services, the announcement matters because regulated institutions need custody arrangements that survive the compromise of any single location. Splitting keys across independent operators, with the operator of the cloud infrastructure excluded from access, addresses the single point of failure that has driven past losses.

Launch planned for early 2027

Google plans a commercial launch of the custody system for early 2027. Pricing and the list of launch partners have not yet been announced.

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