Qredo Rebrands to OPEN: Can It Become a Dark Horse in On-chain Asset Management?

Recently, official announcements revealed that Qredo has been rebranded as Open Custody Protocol (OPEN).

Since 2023, Qredo has undergone two major rounds of layoffs, reducing its workforce from 200 to 50 employees. Particularly on November 2, 2023, the company executed another 50% reduction in staff. These successive layoffs have seemingly diminished public confidence in Qredo. However, the rebranding signifies not just a makeover of the brand image but marks a fundamental shift in the company’s strategy.

The rebranding hints at an upgrade in the technological roadmap and a more precise solution to market pain points.

The new name reflects the company’s strategic shift towards open, decentralized custody solutions, aiming to offer a broader range of services through innovative technology. This transformation could signal a new beginning for Qredo, positioning it to reestablish itself in the cryptocurrency market with a fresh perspective.

Additionally, OPEN’s new strategy focuses on leveraging its second-layer protocols and Multi-Party Computation (MPC) technology to enhance the security and liquidity of crypto assets. By utilizing these technologies, OPEN aims to eliminate the pain points of traditional crypto custody, such as high dependency and security risks, thus providing stable and reliable services in a volatile market environment. These initiatives demonstrate OPEN’s quick response to market needs and its commitment to innovation, potentially setting a new wave in crypto custody.

As the crypto market continues to evolve, addressing the challenges of on-chain asset custody becomes increasingly critical. The OPEN Custody Protocol (formerly Qredo), with its innovative solutions in decentralized custody, is gradually reshaping the future of crypto asset management. The core strengths of the OPEN protocol lie in its unique second-layer blockchain technology and MPC technology, which together not only mitigate the risks associated with centralized custody services but also significantly enhance the flexibility and security of asset management.

OPEN enables instant transaction processing and provides a one-stop asset management dashboard, allowing enterprises to quickly respond in a dynamic market. Moreover, its seamless integration with corporate financial systems and natural adaptation to various international compliance requirements highlight the OPEN protocol’s practicality and foresight in the global financial market.

Despite OPEN’s innovative breakthroughs in crypto custody, the broader blockchain industry’s interoperability remains a challenge. Issues with cross-chain and multi-chain communications need ongoing technical iteration and innovation. In this regard, there is still significant potential and demand for the future development of the OPEN protocol, necessitating continuous exploration of safer and more efficient solutions to optimize its network architecture and expand functionalities.

With the launch of the OPEN protocol, the plan is to use accumulated funds for acquisitions, product development, and geographical expansion to drive growth, although recent market bearishness has necessitated layoffs. OPEN’s transformation is expected to fill a significant gap in the market for an open-source, on-chain, and cost-effective custody system.

Certainly, the OPEN platform remains committed to its mission of providing a decentralized custody solution that not only ensures the security and autonomy of digital assets but also fosters a more resilient and inclusive financial ecosystem. The transition from Qredo to the OPEN Custody Protocol not only redefines the company’s trajectory but also enhances its ability to support the rapid demands of the digital economy.

An overview of the development history of the OPEN Custody Protocol and its specific features: Anchoring on-chain financial and asset custody needs.

The OPEN Custody Protocol (OPEN), established in 2018, was originally aimed at mitigating risks associated with centralized custody solutions by enabling secure self-custody services. The rebranded OPEN not only retains the foundational principles of Qredo but also expands on its infrastructure capabilities, aiming to serve institutions and individual investors.

OPEN achieves complete decentralization of asset custody through its second-layer blockchain protocol. In this protocol, digital asset private keys are managed across a distributed network, not stored at any single location, greatly enhancing security. This unique structure allows enterprises to flexibly choose between self-custody, joint custody, or third-party custody without compromising on security or accessibility.

In response to the FTX collapse and subsequent distrust in traditional custody services, OPEN optimized its platform to meet the growing demand for reliable self-custody solutions. In May of the same year, reports indicated that OPEN had upgraded its self-custody wallet platform, now called “New Qredo,” introducing intelligent key splitting technology that improved control over team permissions and approval processes.

Although OPEN completed a $80 million Series A funding round led by Coinbase and has accumulated approximately $94 million in venture capital, the significant reduction in monthly transaction volumes from an average of $2.5 billion at the end of 2022 forced OPEN to strategically downsize. This strategic reduction focused on concentrating efforts on core products, such as the Web 3 wallet and other custody solutions, in line with broader movements within the crypto market’s decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure.

The OPEN protocol supports instant asset transfers, enabling enterprises to respond swiftly in a dynamic and evolving market. Financial executives can coordinate and manage custodians,

brokers, and financial institutions on the network in real-time through a unified dashboard. This not only enhances operational efficiency but also improves the speed and accuracy of transaction execution.

OPEN operates on open-source software, and its RESTful API interface can be directly integrated into a company’s financial management systems. This feature simplifies the auditing and reporting of digital assets, allowing enterprises to easily access asset information from any network-connected device, achieving real-time visualization of cash flows.

OPEN uses its advanced blockchain technology to record all transaction activity in an immutable ledger, ensuring transparency in auditing and permanent preservation of transaction records. Additionally, the platform has robust messaging capabilities that can handle complex compliance requirements, such as international travel rules, ensuring that the identities and transaction backgrounds of both parties in a transaction are always clear and traceable.

OPEN’s security architecture includes seven lines of defense, providing comprehensive protection from the physical hardware level to the network protocol layer. The introduction of MPC technology not only disperses the risks associated with private keys, but its distributed execution environment is also insured by Lloyd’s of London, providing bank-level security for user assets.

As the demand for on-chain asset custody continues to grow, whether OPEN can play a larger role remains to be seen.

As the crypto market continues to evolve, solving the challenges of on-chain asset custody becomes increasingly critical. The OPEN Custody Protocol (formerly Qredo), with its innovative solutions in decentralized custody, is gradually reshaping the future of crypto asset management. The core strengths of the OPEN protocol lie in its unique second-layer blockchain technology and Multi-Party Computation (MPC) technology, which together not only solve the centralized risks of traditional custody services but also greatly enhance the flexibility and security of asset management.

OPEN, through its instant transaction processing and provision of a one-stop asset management dashboard, enables enterprises to quickly respond in a dynamic market. Additionally, its seamless integration with corporate financial systems and natural adaptation to various international compliance requirements mark the practicality and foresight of the OPEN protocol in the global financial market.

However, despite OPEN’s innovative breakthroughs in crypto custody, the broader blockchain industry’s interoperability remains a challenge. Issues with cross-chain and multi-chain communications need to be addressed through continual technical iteration and innovation. In this regard, there is still significant potential and demand for the future development of the OPEN protocol, necessitating continuous exploration of safer and more efficient solutions to optimize its network architecture and expand functionalities.

Looking forward, we hope that the OPEN protocol will not only continue its innovation in decentralized custody technology but also make new advancements in interoperability, security, and user-friendliness across the entire chain of dApps. As blockchain technology matures, the ongoing innovation of platforms like OPEN will be key to driving the entire crypto economy forward. Additionally, potential synergies with other cross-chain technologies such as LayerZero and Axelar also hint at a more open and connected blockchain network world. With the push of the OPEN protocol, the future of crypto asset management will be more secure, efficient, and transparent.