Xapo is moving its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Switzerland for the extra privacy protections for clients.
On Thursday, Xapo, a company offering vault storage and secure bitcoin wallet service, announced that in order to support their focus on building and developing the infrastructure, the company is going to move its headquarters to Zurich, Switzerland. However, the previous home base in California will still function to serve U.S. clients, but the main operations will be relocated, reads Xapo’s blog.
Fortune states that Xapo is moving its headquarters to Zurich because of customer privacy concerns. The company had previously relocated its primary deep cold storage vault in Switzerland as well.
Storage servers are housed in radio wave-blocking Faraday cages and secured behind military-grade security controls. Also, Xapo teamed up with Satellogic, satellite surveillance service provider, which is responsible for extra physical security.
“…at the request of our expanding global customer base, now is the time to bring our center of operations closer to the heart of our security infrastructure. The country’s regulatory stability, international neutrality and its deep-seated tradition in global finance also factored into the decision,” states Wences Casares, Xapo founder and CEO.
Almost a year ago, Xapo completed a Service Organization Control 2 (SOC2) Type I audit. It’s an auditing standard against which service providers can validate their internal security controls. Two different insurance policies against cyber-theft, hacking attacks, physical break-ins and employee dishonesty cover clients’ funds.
In fact, it proves that Xapo aims at protecting its clients’ funds from all threats:
“…our fiduciaries are protected by our vault, which uses private keys that never touch the client or the Internet and are buried deep within geographically dispersed, heavily guarded locations with multi-signature technology for transaction signing,” reads the announcement. “We have customized security protocols to reduce the likelihood of theft through social engineering, phishing or brute force hacks, and offer full insurance in the unlikely event that these systems are compromised.”
The contry’s long tradition of protecting both personal and financial privacy attracted Xapo. “The fundamental right to personal privacy is established as part of Article 13 of the Swiss Federal Constitution, and the protection of personal financial information is still maintained today by the provisions of the Swiss Banking Law of 1934,” reads the company’s page “Why Switzerland?” explaining the reasons for such a choice.
It’s necessary to add that the page reads also about the Swiss spirit of independence which tends to endure because the country itself stays apart from the European Union. Moreover, Xapo pays attention to the fact that Switzerland protects its multiple borders, and national sovereignty with an active military.
Eugenia graduated from Minsk State Linguistic University with a degree in Intercultural Communication, Translation/Interpretation (Italian, English). Currently she works as a business analyst, freelance interpreter and tutor. She’s fond of numismatics, photos, good books and sports, adores travelling and cooking.
