Custody That Scales: Automation, Controls, and Selective Disclosure
October 28, 2025
In this episode of Unshielded: A Blockchain & Data Podcast by Midnight, host Ian Kane is joined by George Bordianu, Co-Founder and CEO of Balance, Canada’s largest digital asset custodian, to explore how institutional-grade custody is built from the ground up. George shares Balance’s journey to securing nearly $5 billion in digital assets, the engineering principles that drive security and scalability, and why automation, regulatory rigor, and selective disclosure are key to earning trust in the evolving world of digital finance.
In this episode of Unshielded: A Blockchain & Data Podcast by Midnight, host Ian Kane is joined by George Bordianu, Co-Founder and CEO of Balance, Canada’s largest digital asset custodian, to explore how institutional-grade custody is built from the ground up. George shares Balance’s journey to securing nearly $5 billion in digital assets, the engineering principles that drive security and scalability, and why automation, regulatory rigor, and selective disclosure are key to earning trust in the evolving world of digital finance.
What You’ll Learn:
- How Balance built a qualified digital asset custodian from first principles
- Why “security-driven development” and automation are central to scalability
- The critical differences between institutional and retail custody models
- Lessons from real-world custody and staking security incidents
- How selective disclosure strengthens privacy and compliance in blockchain systems
- What Canada’s special purpose trust framework means for crypto custody’s future
George Bordianu, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Balance, is a seasoned entrepreneur with a robust technical background. Holding an MSc in Computer Science from McGill University, he previously served as Director of Engineering at 500px and co-founded YourExtraLife, a social mobile startup featured prominently on the App Store across multiple countries.
Under George's leadership, Balance has emerged as Canada's largest digital asset custodian, securing close to $5 billion in assets. In October 2024, Balance achieved a significant milestone by registering its subsidiary, Balance Trust Company, as a special purpose trust with Alberta's Treasury Board and Finance, becoming Canada's second qualified custodian for digital assets and also a U.S. qualified custodian. George's expertise in digital asset custody has positioned Balance as a trusted partner for institutional clients.
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Episode Resources:
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