Announcing Gannett Trust Company

When I started at Unchained in 2021, I quickly learned how important bitcoin was for families and businesses that want to build and secure generational wealth and long-term economic stability. Those trailblazers knew that bitcoin was not just magic internet money or an inflationary hedge, but a new paradigm for protecting their hard-earned wealth.  After I left Unchained two years ago, I’ve continued to see the company mature alongside bitcoin, attracting the attention of institutional investors, family offices, foundations, and so many other clients. But something kept nagging at me; something was still missing to deliver the entire value that bitcoin promises. 

Bitcoin allows you to hold and control your wealth without sacrificing sovereignty and placing unconditional trust with a counterparty, and Unchained makes it possible to achieve that. However, it still remains a daunting task to control your own bitcoin, even with approaches like Unchained’s collaborative custody solution. Managing multiple physical signing devices can be intimidating for an individual or family, especially if you have accumulated a significant amount of bitcoin and want to be sure that wealth is protected and gets passed on safely and securely to the next generation. Additionally, if that bitcoin is held in an institution like a family office’s portfolio or a business’s treasury, there are certain legal or compliance requirements that come into play that may make it difficult or downright impossible for an organization to hold private keys themselves.

These complexities are not easily solved by just holding bitcoin at a crypto exchange. Doing so negates a core promise of bitcoin: sovereign control of your wealth. As we saw in 2022, if the exchange fails or rehypothecates the underlying bitcoin (or if it’s not there to begin with), then that bitcoin is nothing more than an IOU. Yes, some value may eventually be recovered, but that will be tied up in lengthy legal processes, and it is not a guarantee that anyone will be made whole. You may also think about investing into one of the many bitcoin ETFs, but they are also merely IOUs, with the underlying bitcoin held in custody at those same crypto exchanges. Finally, most people won’t get very far with most traditional investment advisors or broker-dealers because the vast majority of them remain opposed or inexperienced when it comes to bitcoin. 

Of course, the most sovereign way to secure bitcoin is to hold private keys, but this also comes with technical and operational requirements that may be too onerous for some families, businesses, and institutional allocators. Some exchanges have created special-purpose custodians to try and address some of these shortcomings, but they only address the symptoms and not the root cause. And again, most of these custodians simply ask you to trust them while they custody your bitcoin on their systems. They also do not generally incorporate collaborative custody and multisignature, instead relying on centralized black-box custody models with third-party attestations as to the reliability of their accounts.

This is precisely why we built Gannett Trust Company, the first bitcoin-native trust company, which just received its charter in Wyoming. Gannett Trust is not just another crypto custodian. As a fiduciary and trusted advisor, we go beyond custody, bridging the gap between the worlds of bitcoin and traditional assets to meet your wealth management, inheritance and estate planning, and corporate treasury needs. We combine conventional legal and regulatory safeguards with technical infrastructure and operational controls to deliver fiduciary services around bitcoin, including collaborative custody, trust administration, and generational planning.

In the coming months, we will be rolling out our services to existing Unchained clients that are in need of a fiduciary to support their existing trust and estate structures around bitcoin. We will also be transitioning Sound Advisory to become part of Gannett Trust, unlocking more robust inheritance, trust solutions, and investment strategies. Gannett Trust’s services will be available more broadly later this year, pending additional regulatory approvals, for those families and businesses who need a fiduciary that deeply understands bitcoin and values principles such as key control, technical integrity, and long-term stewardship. 

I’m thrilled to be re-joining the Unchained family to lead Gannett Trust Company alongside some amazing individuals who are dedicated to bringing the bitcoin standard and fiduciary standard together. It would be my honor to work with you to understand how Gannett Trust can help fundamentally integrate bitcoin into your family’s or business’s wealth and treasury strategies. Please also visit www.GannettTrust.com for additional information on our services and some helpful answers to frequently asked questions, and do not hesitate to reach out.

On closing, I’d like to address one question here: What’s with the name? Gannett Peak is the highest point in Wyoming, a short distance from Gannett Trust’s offices in Jackson Hole. But the peak itself is named after Henry Gannett, the first chief geographer of the U.S. Geological Survey and often referred to as the “father of mapmaking in America.” This resonated with me, as I view Gannett Trust as a partner to help you navigate your journey, wherever you happen to be, providing you with the tools to chart the course for generations to come.

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Unchained does not provide tax, legal or accounting advice. This material should not be relied on for investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult your own investment, tax, legal, and accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction.

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