Company bitcoin needs controls people can follow.

Your organisation holds bitcoin. It may have come from a treasury decision, revenue, or a founder's early setup. In practice, it often still sits on one person's device, behind one seed phrase.

Everyone can see the compromise. It is quick to start, but awkward to explain to a board or auditor. If that person is on leave, leaves the company, or cannot be reached, the organisation has a governance problem.

The operating need is ordinary: more than one person involved in a spend, roles that match the finance function, a record of who proposed what, who signed, and when, and a setup that survives a departure.

Both alternatives can be right. They just suit different organisations.

The first is do-it-yourself multisignature with desktop coordinator software. It can work well when someone on the team understands the Bitcoin details and can own the process. If not, your organisation becomes the systems integrator. You have to design the key ceremony, write the procedures, train people, test recovery, and support the setup.

The second is a custody platform built for institutions. That may be the right answer for a larger treasury, but it brings onboarding, contracts, cost, and a counterparty relationship.

Many organisations sit between those choices. The options exist; they just do not match their scale, budget, or operating reality. So the bitcoin stays where it started.

A shared vault is a standard bitcoin multisignature address with several keys. You decide how many must sign before bitcoin moves.

For a treasury, common shapes are 2-of-3 or 3-of-5. The keyholders are usually the people who would approve a payment of the same size today: a finance lead, a director, a second director, and, where the quorum allows it, an offline key or a professional adviser.

In a 3-of-5 vault, no single person can move the bitcoin. Two people cannot move it either. If one key is lost or compromised, the remaining keyholders can still meet the quorum and move the bitcoin to a new vault. A departure is handled the same way: the remaining keyholders move the bitcoin to a new vault without the leaver's key.

Every spend starts as a proposal. Each keyholder sees who proposed it, the destination, the amount, and who has signed so far. Nothing moves until the quorum signs. After broadcast, the bitcoin network gives you a transaction record to reconcile to your internal approvals.

During launch, shared vaults are free to set up. Vaults created during the launch window stay free.

For a small treasury, a practical 3-of-5 setup is:

1. Finance lead.
2. Director.
3. Second director.
4. Offline backup key.
5. Professional adviser or other approved signatory.

Any three can sign. No one person can move the bitcoin. Two people cannot move it either. If one person leaves, the remaining keyholders can move the bitcoin to a new vault with the new roster.

1. Agree the quorum and keyholders as part of your payment authority.
2. Create a 3-of-5 vault and add the keyholders.
3. Send each claim link privately to the right person.

Each keyholder accepts, creates or connects their own key, and keeps their own backup. When all keyholders have accepted, each participant checks the final roster, quorum, and address. Once everyone acknowledges the same vault, it becomes active and its address is fixed. Then move the treasury bitcoin into it.