Taking stock of $6.3B Binance hack - Is multi-sig the answer?

Episode 56 of The Starting Block, hosted by The Block's Gareth Jenkinson, was broadcast live on November 13th with Onramp Founder & CEO, Michael Tanguma.

Key topics
• Bitcoin drops 7% to $68K amid Nvidia CEO resignation and Fed rate hike fears.
• Single-custodian Bitcoin storage is empirically broken after 18 years of hacks.
• Onramp's multi-institution custody uses three custodians secured by native Bitcoin multi-sig.
• ETFs are insufficient for institutional-grade Bitcoin ownership at scale.

Outline
00:00 - Welcome & Sponsor Intro
05:01 - The Block Briefing
10:19 - Hot Seat: 2026's Worst Year?
16:49 - Self-Custody vs. Custodians
23:16 - The Black Box Problem
26:03 - Onramp's Multi-Institution Model
33:50 - The Case Against Single Custodians
43:56 - Show Wrap & Breakpoint Preview

 

Summary
Michael Tanguma opened by calling 2026 the worst year for self-custodial Bitcoin holders since he entered the industry in 2017, attributing the surge in attacks to AI lowering the cost for bad actors to source KYC data and exploit hardware wallet vulnerabilities. He pushed back on the binary of pure self-custody versus single third-party custodians, arguing that the majority of Bitcoin sitting on hardware devices was always a game-theoretical response to data being freely extractable, not a sustainable long-term solution. He also rejected the "be your own bank" ethos as a broken pipe dream, contending that people live in trusted societies and need institutional infrastructure, while equally dismissing Bitcoin ETFs as insufficient for scaling real Bitcoin ownership at the institutional level.

Tanguma described Onramp's answer as multi-institution custody, a model in which three regulated custodians each hold a key shard secured through multi-sig, with assets held segregated, on-chain, verifiable, and insured by Lloyd's of London. No single entity can move or lose the asset, and each custodian operates only at the client's direction. He pointed to companies like MicroStrategy diversifying across Anchorage, Fidelity, and Coinbase as early market validation, while arguing that this approach still leaves holders exposed to losing 20-30% of their balance sheet if any one custodian fails. Tanguma concluded that multi-institution custody leveraging governance at the asset layer is the only path he sees for Bitcoin to function as money at scale, and said the events of the past two weeks at $70,000 BTC have accelerated client and investor interest in Onramp's model in ways he had expected only at $170,000.

About the guest
Michael Tanguma is the Founder and CEO of Onramp, a Bitcoin financial services company founded in 2022 that pioneered multi-institution custody, a model in which three regulated custodians collectively secure client assets on-chain with no single party able to move or lose the funds. Before Onramp, Tanguma held roles as VP of Growth at Unchained Capital, Partner at Early Riders, and also had a stint at The Block.