The offline holding of cryptographic keys, a condition of insurability for a cryptoasset in institutional custody.
Cold storage is the offline holding of cryptographic keys, shielded from network intrusion, as against connected hot wallets. It is one of the controls the insurer audits at a professional custodian, alongside multi-signature, physical security and penetration testing, to agree to cover cryptoassets. An asset in institutional custody, in audited cold storage, becomes for the insurer a bar in a vault, and it is insurable to that extent. The same asset in self-custody is not. The insurability of a digital asset thus grows as it abandons what distinguishes it from classical finance.
The insurer can only cover the cryptoasset by treating it as an immobile, guarded bar, in audited cold storage, and not in its own nature as an asset circulating on a chain.
cold storage, portefeuille froid, garde hors ligne