What is a Qualified Custodian? Who are they regulated by?
Under Section 408 of the Investment Advisors Act of 1940, the SEC defines a Qualified Custodian generally as a Bank or Trust Company that provides safe custody of client assets and handles all reporting and reconciliation of client accounts. Our Qualified Custodian is currently Fortis Bank.
What is iTrustCapital's role in securing my account and assets?
iTrustCapital is a software platform that allows clients to buy and sell cryptocurrency and precious metals in their Self-Directed IRA. iTrustCapital is not an exchange, custodian, trust company, licensed broker/dealer, or investment advisor, and therefore is not directly regulated as such. iTrustCapital leverages regulated bank and trust partners, and institutional crypto storage providers, to secure assets. All iTrustCapital client assets are held For the Benefit Of (FBO) our clients 1:1 off-balance sheet. Please review Our Terms of Service for more details.
How are my digital assets secured with iTrustCapital?
Through our Qualified Custodian, Fortis Bank, iTrust Custodial Services utilizes proprietary technology to custody digital assets, working with some of the most respected names in crypto for digital asset institutional storage, including Coinbase Custody, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Fireblocks.
Highlights include:
- Multi-Party Computation (MPC)
- Offline Cold Storage
- Providers undergo regular security and financial audits by external firms and have been awarded SOC 2 Type II certifications
- Commercial Crime Insurance Policies
What would happen to my IRA and assets if iTrustCapital and/or the Qualfied Custodian were to go out of business?
iTrustCapital and our Qualified Custodian, Fortis Bank, maintain a business continuity plan to address business wind-down and account transitions if needed. In the event that a wind-down is required, clients would retain ownership and control of their accounts and assets and would be required to transfer their funds to another Qualified Custodian. Client assets are never mixed with operating funds and therefore are not available to satisfy the obligations of iTrustCapital or Fortis Bank.
Is the crypto insured?
Our institutional storage providers, Coinbase Custody, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Fireblocks, all have commercial crime insurance policies. These providers do not disclose the amounts that their policies cover, but it's important to note that no insurance policy in the crypto industry covers all of the assets on any given platform.
The fact that these providers have been underwritten for any insurance is a testament to their secure, ironclad, and stress-tested platforms.
Some companies may be misleading clients about the types and amounts of crypto insurance coverage they have, but we like to be more upfront.
iTrustCapital doesn't use hot wallets. If a client’s account was breached (i.e. a bad actor hacked their email, swaps their SIM Card, changed their account password, or obtained access to their Authenticator 2FA), crypto can not be drained from an iTrustCapital account as there is no connectivity to external wallets.
Do you lend against my assets?
Neither Fortis Bank nor iTrustCapital lends against client assets. iTrustCapital never takes custody of client assets and client assets are never mixed with operating funds. Client assets are secured and stored with third-party institutional storage providers, as outlined by our Terms of Service in "Section 4.b." -
Storage: Digital Currencies are stored by iTrust Custodial Services using institutional cryptocurrency storage wallet providers, and precious metals are physically held at the Royal Canadian Mint with ownership managed via a secure blockchain distributed ledger.
To learn more about iTrustCapital’s relationship with its clients, see our Terms of Service here.