Casa

Casa is a cryptocurrency custody startup, offering key management services, hardware wallets, and the Casa node. Founded in 2016 by Jeremy Welch, Casa’s team notably includes bitcoin developer Jameson Lopp and Trezor founder Alena Vranova.

The Casa node is a plug-and-play on-ramp for individuals looking to join the Lightning Network. The Lightning Network, launched in 2018, is a micropayment processing layer built on the Bitcoin blockchain. The network allows participating nodes to create preloaded channels for low-cost, speedy transactions between parties. Once the parties decide they would like to settle final payments, the channel is closed and the state of the channel is recorded to Bitcoin’s ledger.

Casa aims to make it easy to join the Lightning Network with its node, the features of which include receiving transactions, the capability to open private channels and a full copy of the Bitcoin blockchain for validation purposes. In July 2019, Casa released the Sats App, a mobile app allowing users to control their lightning node operations on the go.

Additionally, Casa’s Keymaster product is a custody solution that utilizes a multi-signature technology (commonly referred to as multi-sig) to secure funds. Users can choose to subscribe to various levels of the service, each of which includes different products - for example, a mobile app and hardware wallets - designed for a variety of holdings, from small balances to large. The service is designed to have checks across different devices and locations for maximum security.

Casa has maintained a blog since 2018.