A New Trust Company Enters Bitcoin Custody

AnchorWatch Trust Company opened on October 19 as a Nevada-chartered bitcoin custodian, according to a company statement reported by The Block. The offering targets clients such as fiduciaries, public companies and trusts that need institutional custody arrangements, combining key-management options with fixed-dollar fees and optional insurance.

The company says custody charges are capped at $10,000 per month and that insurance limits of up to $370 million per trust-company client are available subject to underwriting approval. Its described models include one with additional client-held keys and another distributing key control among AnchorWatch, BitGo and CoinCorner. The insurance is optional rather than an automatic benefit for every account.

Custody Is an Operating Arrangement

Institutional bitcoin ownership requires a clear answer to who can authorize a transfer and how that authority is protected. Different key arrangements can distribute responsibility in different ways, but the surrounding procedures are just as important. Access changes, internal approvals and incident response all affect how a custody service works in practice.

For organizations, those questions extend beyond keeping a secret safe. A service must fit governance requirements and remain usable when employees change roles or an unexpected event occurs. The value of a custody model depends on whether its responsibilities can be understood and carried out reliably across the life of the relationship.

Insurance and Pricing Need Their Own Reading

A stated insurance limit describes a potential level of coverage, not a promise that every type of loss is covered. The policy’s terms, exclusions and underwriting conditions determine what protection applies. Keeping insurance separate from custody avoids treating two distinct arrangements as a single guarantee about the safety or value of an asset.

Fixed-dollar pricing also creates a different comparison from charging a percentage of assets. It makes the billing structure visible in another way, but organizations still have to consider the whole service they receive. Operational controls, reporting and access arrangements can matter as much as the fee headline when evaluating an institutional provider.

The launch adds another choice in a market where custody is increasingly packaged with governance and risk-transfer services. The useful measure will be how those parts work together for actual clients. AnchorWatch’s announcement establishes a specific new offering, while leaving each organization to assess the custody model and any optional insurance through their detailed terms and operating procedures.