Google Cloud Previews Custody Service but Has Not Named Its Testers

Google Cloud is previewing a Multi-party Compute (MPC) service that lets institutions jointly authorize and sign digital asset transactions without any single party holding the full private key. Google Cloud aims to make its MPC Key Management Service generally available in early 2027, according to a company spokesperson.

The service remains in preview, meaning Google provides it as is, with potentially limited support, and several financial institutions are testing it in a private preview. Google held a Google Cloud MPC Symposium in New York this week to pitch the service to institutions.

A Late Entry to a Crowded Custody Market

Google's planned entry brings one of the world's largest cloud providers closer to competing in a market already served by specialist security firms, including Fireblocks, Fordefi and BitGo. Those firms already offer technology to help institutions protect and authorize blockchain transactions, so Google is arriving at a market that Fireblocks, Fordefi and BitGo have served for years.

Google did not provide independently verified performance comparisons with existing custody products, and it did not disclose pricing. Without either, institutions have no public way to judge whether the Google Cloud MPC service improves on what Fireblocks, Fordefi and BitGo already sell.

What Google Has Not Said

Google did not identify the institutions testing the service or specify which digital assets Alphabet is securing with it. Alphabet uses the service for its own digital assets on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains.

Google's documentation was also updated to expand its Bitcoin security rules, which is the basis for pitching the service as a tool for institutional Bitcoin custody. Beyond that documentation update, it is unclear whether Google's service has much to do with Bitcoin at all, since the only named use is Alphabet's own Ethereum and Solana assets, or whether it is better than existing open source software.

Why It Matters

Google's MPC service splits signing so no single party holds the full private key, yet institutions that adopt it still hand custody of their coins to intermediaries, now with Google Cloud as one more gatekeeper in the middle. We think the announcement looks aimed at generating hype rather than previewing anything concrete, because Google has not named its testers, disclosed pricing or shown that its service beats existing open source software. Bitcoin already lets holders split keys across their own devices with self-custody tools that need no permission from a cloud provider that can be pressured into censorship. Google's planned entry into a market already served by Fireblocks, Fordefi and BitGo rewards incumbents selling to institutions, not savers who hold their own keys.