Client Overview
This U.S.-based global banking group sought to create an enterprise-grade digital asset custody platform using customized HSMs and MPC protocols. Operating in a regulated environment, the bank needed architectural validation in its PoC phase, including privacy assurances and secure custody implementation.
Security Challenges Faced
Incorporating bespoke cryptographic protocols in a way that met internal controls and external audit standards
Ensuring the system was resistant to insider risk and external compromise, with clear air-gap strategies and encrypted channel management
Halborn’s Solutions – DLT Architecture Advisory
Assessed the design of key generation, key storage, and transaction signing workflows using customized HSMs and threshold-based MPC protocols
Reviewed air-gapped communication channels, verifying how they aligned with regulatory and operational constraints
Worked closely with business stakeholders to ensure the technical design would scale while maintaining provable security guarantees
What Set Halborn Apart
Rather than take a one-size-fits-all approach, Halborn provided modular security patterns for the client’s architecture, including decision trees based on trade-offs (latency, fault tolerance, compliance load).
Results Achieved
Enabled safe advancement from PoC to production with a well-tested architecture
Delivered a report document aligned with compliance, allowing iterative secure development
Going Above and Beyond
Halborn’s partnership with this major U.S.-based banking group reflects how institutional-grade DLT architecture should be built—with security integrated at every lifecycle stage, from PoC to production. At each design iteration, Halborn acted as a security co-pilot, offering not just code-level insights, but broader recommendations for cryptographic architecture, HSM orchestration, and MPC protocol integrity.
This advisory didn’t just deliver a checklist of fixes—it built a security culture. The Halborn team facilitated conversations between technical and business stakeholders, helping bridge knowledge gaps and accelerate alignment around complex security requirements.
By helping this client evolve from siloed security practices to a unified, secure-by-design model, Halborn enabled the bank to pursue digital asset innovation without sacrificing trust, regulatory readiness, or enterprise-grade control structures. Our consistent collaboration and feedback transformed this engagement from advisory to acceleration.
