Zug, 4 October – Bitcoin Suisse is proud to announce the addition of governance voting for clients who hold DOT, KSM and CFG in the Bitcoin Suisse Vault. With an easy-to-use proxy account setup from the Bitcoin Suisse Vault interface, Bitcoin Suisse clients can participate in Polkadot protocol governance, and vote on both community proposals and upgrades to the network. This new feature is also available for the growing number of parachains connected to the Polkadot network. The Bitcoin Suisse Vault is the first institutional-grade custody service in the world to support Polkadot governance participation.

One of the largest and fastest-growing blockchain ecosystems, Polkadot uses on-chain governance to allow DOT token holders to participate in the development of the network by using their tokens to vote on technical proposals and initiatives. Parachains that connect to the Polkadot network also incorporate this element of token holder voting.

Now, with the latest update to the Bitcoin Suisse Vault, DOT holders, as well as holders of KSM and CFG, can easily use their Vault account to create a proxy account on the device of their choice. This allows their assets to remain securely in cold storage while they participate in governance votes.

Markus Perdrizat, Head of Custody at Bitcoin Suisse, commented: “To advance the Web3 ecosystem, on-chain governance is key. It is essential for us at Bitcoin Suisse to offer access to on-chain governance for the clients of our institutional-grade Vault solution, since this is a very fast-growing space. The Bitcoin Suisse Vault was already the first solution to offer DOT custody and staking services in June 2020, so this new feature is a clear continuation of our tradition of staying at the forefront of technical innovation.”

Kasper Jorgensen, CFO at the Web3 Foundation in Zug, added “On-chain governance is a key component within Polkadot,  ensuring all decision-making processes of the network continue to be as decentralized as possible including decisions on forkless upgrades and treasury proposals. We’re pleased Bitcoin Suisse clients are now easily able to participate in the Polkadot governance process through the Bitcoin Suisse Vault. Enabling easy access to participate in on-chain governance while keeping tokens in an institutional grade custody service is a big step forward for adoption and participation on Polkadot”

Launched in 2018, the Bitcoin Suisse Vault provides institutional-grade cold-storage custody of crypto assets. In addition to being audited by Grant Thornton and Zühlke Engineering, the Vault has received an ISAE-3402 report and completed successful audits from PwC for five years in a row. The Bitcoin Suisse Vault supports 19 different protocols and over 60 different crypto tokens. With the rapidly changing crypto asset industry, the internal development team of Bitcoin Suisse are constantly upgrading and adding new features to the Vault to meet the needs and demands of clients and the expanding ecosystem. Other notable upgrades include the addition of Centrifuge, support for Tezos token standards and more.

About Bitcoin Suisse

Founded in 2013, Bitcoin Suisse Ltd is the Swiss crypto-finance and technology pioneer and market leader. As an enabler for the crypto and blockchain ecosystem in Switzerland, Bitcoin Suisse has been a driving force in the development of the 'Crypto Valley' and the 'Crypto Nation Switzerland'. The crypto-financial services provider offers brokerage, custody, lending, staking, payment solutions and other crypto-related services for private and institutional clients. As a member of the self-regulatory organization Financial Services Standards Association (VQF), Bitcoin Suisse is a financial intermediary subject to Swiss AML/CFT regulations. Bitcoin Suisse consists of several companies under the parent company BTCS Holding Ltd. The company is headquartered in Zug and has built a team of over 300 highly qualified experts in Switzerland and Europe. | bitcoinsuisse.com

About Web3 Foundation
Web3 Foundation funds research and development teams building the technology stack of the decentralized web. It was established in Zug, Switzerland by Ethereum co-founder and former chief technology officer Dr. Gavin Wood. Polkadot is the Foundation's flagship project. For more information, visit web3.foundation.