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About cerberus |
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The inception and goals of the cerberus protocol |
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The cerberus protocol was originally conceived at a fledgling bitcoin startup called Clavestone, intended as an open-source framework for organisations—such as companies, charities, or any collective—to securely store bitcoin using multisig technology. The draft started taking shape but was halted when the Clavestone team disbanded, leaving it dormant for several years.
Later, the Bitcoin Design team identified a need within the Bitcoin community for a self-sovereign storage solution for teams, independent of third-party custody services. This sparked its revival and further development.
"If you don't hold your keys, you don't hold your bitcoin." — Bitcoin proverb
Everyone knows that individuals should hold the keys to their bitcoin and why. But organisations have yet to get the memo. Organizations with bitcoin treasuries are, for the most part, choosing to entrust the keys to third-party bitcoin custodians: single points of failure.
Due to the high concentration of funds under management, and their ability to spend them, bitcoin custodians are destined to suffer hacks, thefts, robberies, kidnappings, inside jobs, or fund seizures.
Multisig gives organisations the power to hold their own bitcoin while avoiding any single point of failure. Control over an organisation's bitcoin can be distributed across multiple team members, ensuring there are checks and balances on any outgoing transactions.
Unlike multisig setups for individuals, multisig setups for organisations require structured procedures due to their collaborative nature. Team members need to know how to coordinate sending and receiving transactions. Additionally, personnel changes—both planned and unplanned—can compromise wallet security without proper key replacement procedures in place.
Rather than leave each organisation to pioneer their own self-custody approach, the cerberus protocol offers a "one-size-fits-most" solution that delivers enterprise-grade security through community-reviewed bitcoin best practices. We hope this standardized approach makes self-custody accessible to any organisation that wants to secure a bitcoin treasury.
While there are many security benefits for an organisation managing its own multisig wallet, it can be quite daunting. The cerberus protocol tackles this by delivering a detailed, clear guide that requires minimal decision making.
Many guides of this nature assume technical expertise from users, bombarding users with choices and decisions in the name of "flexibility". Cerberus takes the opposite approach, defining all processes rigidly, down to the specific software to use, the equipment to purchase, and exactly who does what when.
The goal is to reduce cognitive load on participants, so all they need to do is download the protocol and execute it. The less users have to think about, the more likely they'll choose self-custody for their organisation instead of relying on a custodian.
And since the cerberus protocol is open source, anyone looking for customisations can always fork it and introduce their own modifications!