Research Summary
The report discusses Multicoin Capital’s investment in Squads Labs, a key contributor to the Squads Protocol, a leading multisig solution on Solana. It delves into the evolution of financial custody, the role of blockchains, and the importance of multi-signature wallets. The report also highlights the features of Squads, its recent upgrades, and the potential it holds for the future of blockchain-native custody.
Key Takeaways
Investment in Squads Labs
- Backing Squads Labs: Multicoin Capital has invested in Squads Labs, a core contributor to the Squads Protocol, a leading multisig solution on Solana. The latest funding round of $5.7M brings Squads’ total funding to $12.5M.
Evolution of Financial Custody
- Transition to Blockchain: The report discusses the evolution of financial custody, from traditional banks to modern custodian banks, and now to blockchains. Blockchains offer the best combination of digitization and bearer instruments, facilitating instant global settlement of payments, real-time settlement of trades, and greatly reducing counterparty risk.
Squads: The Solana Multisig Standard
- Role of Multisigs: As crypto matures, institutional investors and internet-native organizations need a way to manage their assets. This is where multi-signature wallets (multisigs) come into play. Squads, launched in February 2022, has quickly become the universal standard for multisigs in the Solana ecosystem.
Upgrades to Squads
- Introduction of SquadsX and Squads (v4): Squads has introduced a major upgrade to its platform, including SquadsX, Solana’s first multisig browser extension wallet, and Squads (v4), which offers new enterprise features like time locks, roles and permissions, fee relayer, mass payouts, and support for Address Lookup Tables (ALTs).
Future of Blockchain-native Custody
- Building the Future: With SquadsX and Squads (v4), Squads is building the foundational infrastructure for blockchain-native custody. The report suggests that Squads opens the door to crypto adoption in a safe and secure way and offers some of the most compelling enterprise- and institutional-grade products on the market today.
Actionable Insights
- Exploring Multisig Solutions: Organizations, especially those dealing with crypto assets, should explore multisig solutions like Squads for managing their assets. These solutions offer enhanced security and control over transactions.
- Adopting Blockchain-native Custody: With the evolution of financial custody, businesses should consider adopting blockchain-native custody solutions. These solutions offer real-time settlement of trades, greatly reduce counterparty risk, and can potentially save the financial industry billions of dollars.
- Investigating the Potential of Squads: Squads, with its recent upgrades and new features, presents a promising solution for blockchain-native custody. Businesses should investigate the potential of Squads and similar platforms for their asset management needs.
