{"id":26864,"date":"2024-07-31T14:10:12","date_gmt":"2024-07-31T14:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitcoins-101.com\/2024\/07\/31\/google-robinhood-veteran-aims-to-bring-bitcoin-multsig-to-the-masses-with-theya\/"},"modified":"2024-07-31T14:10:12","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T14:10:12","slug":"google-robinhood-veteran-aims-to-bring-bitcoin-multsig-to-the-masses-with-theya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoins-101.com\/2024\/07\/31\/google-robinhood-veteran-aims-to-bring-bitcoin-multsig-to-the-masses-with-theya\/","title":{"rendered":"Google, Robinhood Veteran Aims To Bring Bitcoin Multsig To The Masses With Theya"},"content":{"rendered":"

Company Name:<\/strong> Theya<\/p>\n

Founders:<\/strong> Sriram Bhargav Karnati, Smeet Bhatt and Vikas Choudhary<\/p>\n

Date Founded:<\/strong> December 2023<\/p>\n

Location of Headquarters:<\/strong> San Francisco, CA<\/p>\n

Amount of Bitcoin Held in Treasury:<\/strong> \u201cIt\u2019s significant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Number of Employees:<\/strong> 7<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> https:\/\/www.theya.us\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Public or Private?<\/strong> Private<\/p>\n

Sriram Bhargav Karnati believes that top-notch security and usability are not mutually exclusive when it comes to managing your bitcoin.<\/p>\n

So, he and his co-founders at Theya<\/a> have built a multsig bitcoin vault \u2014 a mechanism that requires multiple participants to sign off on a Bitcoin transaction \u2014 that users can conveniently manage from their mobile devices.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur mission is to make self-custody easy for everybody,\u201d said Karnati.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at all the $1 trillion companies \u2014 all the big tech companies: Apple, Google, Facebook \u2014 they all have brilliant products that everyday people can use. But if you look at Bitcoin, you don’t have a product that’s super easy for everybody to use without having to become a security engineer or have technical expertise,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201c[We] want to really make it super simple to onboard people and make long-term storage super convenient.\u201d<\/p>\n

Combining Karnati\u2019s background in building consumer products for major companies like Google and Robinhood with his deep understanding of Bitcoin, it seems there\u2019s perhaps no better person for the job of bringing multisig Bitcoin vaults to the masses.<\/p>\n

A Silicon Valley All-Star Shifts To Bitcoin<\/h2>\n

Growing up in Bombay, Karnati dreamed of working in Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n

He got the opportunity in 2014 when he began working at Google, where he contributed to a number of the company\u2019s products.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Google, I didn’t work on just one team,\u201d recounted Karnati.<\/p>\n

\u201cI touched almost all products that you use: Google Search, Google Shopping, Google Ads \u2014 everything,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy biggest lesson from that was \u2018How do you build the system from the ground up and scale it to billions of users?\u2019 And also \u2018How do people think about using a product?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

By 2021, Karnati found himself at another prominent Bay Area-based tech company, Robinhood.<\/p>\n

At Robinhood, Karnati learned about the intersection of money, finance and technology, paying close attention to what the company got right when it came to user experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I worked at Robinhood, one of my biggest lessons was \u2018How do you take complex financial instruments and make them super simple?\u2019\u201d explained Karnati. \u201c[We were] basically giving access to everybody to join finance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karnati has taken these lessons he learned in Silicon Valley and is now applying them to Bitcoin self-custody.<\/p>\n

He knows that if Bitcoin is going to scale the way it was intended to \u2014 with users holding bitcoin in self-custody \u2014 then it has to become easier to use a non-custodial bitcoin wallet or vault.<\/p>\n

Enter Theya \u2014 dynamic and secure solution to bitcoin self-custody.<\/p>\n

How Theya Works<\/h2>\n

Theya\u2019s vaults employ a 2-of-3 multsig setup, which means that two of the three private key holders have to sign off on sending bitcoin from the vault for the transaction to occur. Theya holds one of the keys while the user(s) hold the other two.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s unique about Theya is that its first multisig solution that doesn\u2019t require the use of a hardware wallet \u2014 devices that Karnati believes are intimidating to newer bitcoin users.<\/p>\n

\u201cMobile multisig is for people who don’t have a hardware wallet, but still want to do self-custody with more than a single-sig [device],\u201d explained Karnati.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can create a family wallet with you and your spouse. That type of product didn’t exist before Theya,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201c[They can] get started with multisig, and, as they accumulate more and more bitcoin, they can slowly upgrade to a hardware wallet and create a cold storage [setup].\u201d<\/p>\n

For this service, Theya charges an annual fee of $199.<\/p>\n

That said, Karnati and the team at Theya are aware that not everyone is going to opt for a multisig setup right away, especially one that comes with a price tag attached.<\/p>\n

Given Theya\u2019s mission to onboard as many people to self-custody as possible, Karnati explained that Theya provides a free non-custodial wallet option, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe single-sig mobile wallet is free,\u201d he said, \u201cand you can create as many wallets as you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karnati added that the free single-sig offering is also compatible with hardware wallets. For example, you can use the Theya app as an interface for any of the hardware wallets it supports \u2014 including Ledger, Trezor, ColdCard and Foundation devices.<\/p>\n

But who would invest in a company that gives part of its product away for free in efforts to fulfill its mission?<\/p>\n

One of the most prominent venture capital (VC) firms in the broader crypto and tech space \u2014 Y Combinator \u2014 that\u2019s who.<\/p>\n

Why Y Combinator?<\/h2>\n

To get Theya off the ground, Karnati and his co-founders accepted funding from Y Combinator<\/a>, well-known for helping to financially accelerate startups in the broader crypto space \u2014 startups that often issue their own crypto tokens \u2014 as opposed to Bitcoin-only startups.<\/p>\n

So what piqued Y Combinator\u2019s interest in Theya?<\/p>\n

\u201cY Combinator doesn’t really invest based on the idea,\u201d said Karnati. \u201cThey invest based on the founder\u2019s background.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given that Theya\u2019s two other founders \u2014 Smeet Bhatt and Vikas Choudary \u2014 also have impressive r\u00e9sum\u00e9s and extensive experience working in tech, logistics and finance, it isn\u2019t hard to imagine why Y Combinator was interested.<\/p>\n

However, Y Combinator appreciated more than just the backgrounds of Theya\u2019s founders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey also love our mission,\u201d said Karnati.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a clear space for us to build. Everybody wants to make quick money. Everybody wants to create a token and stuff like that, and they thought \u2018These guys are doing something different and filling a gap where you don’t really have big products,\u2019\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Karnati\u2019s Bitcoin Conviction<\/h2>\n

Considering that Karnati has the chops as a developer to work for seemingly any technology company, one has to ask: Why focus on Bitcoin?<\/p>\n

\u201cI read Satoshi\u2019s whitepaper<\/a> in 2014 and kind of understood it,\u201d Karnati recalled. \u201cThen, I read Andreas\u2019 Mastering Bitcoin<\/em><\/a> to understand better how it works.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t Karnati\u2019s theoretical grasp on Bitcoin that made him a believer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, I bought a little bit of Bitcoin and made a transaction on-chain,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s when I was like, \u2018Wow, like this is real.\u2019 I was able to move my own money permissionlessly. It was so obvious that this has to be the future of money,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

When Karnati juxtaposed this experience in transacting with bitcoin with his experience in sending international remittances from South Korea, where he lived while working for Samsung, to India he experienced one of Bitcoin\u2019s main value propositions \u2014 cheap and fast remittances.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of KYC, a lot of verification and it was super slow,\u201d said Karnati of the process of sending a remittance payment via the traditional financial rails. \u201cSometimes there were some failures, as well, and it was very costly \u2014 there was a 1.5% fee on top of foreign exchange fees.\u201d<\/p>\n

After this experience, Karnati also learned about and experimented with other blockchains, only to come back to Bitcoin once he became more fully aware of one of bitcoin\u2019s other main attributes \u2014 a store of value.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realized the most important thing is the store of value,\u201d said Karnati regarding what separates bitcoin from other digital assets.<\/p>\n

This is part of what prompted him to create a product that made storing the private keys to that store of value easier and safer.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s Next For Theya?<\/h2>\n

Aside from providing users with a premier multisig vault experience, Karnati and the team at Theya have further aspirations for their app.<\/p>\n

\u201cPayments is definitely an area into which we want to grow,\u201d said Karnati. \u201cWe want to make it easy for merchants to accept payments and for someone to offer a subscription service.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, he added that integrating Lightning<\/a> isn\u2019t next on the docket for Theya.<\/p>\n

Karnati and his team are more intent right now on introducing an exchange into the app so that users can purchase bitcoin within the app and send it directly to cold storage. Part of his motivation for including such a feature comes from taking note of the shortcomings of other Bitcoin and crypto exchanges in the space, including one for which he used to work \u2014 Robinhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of our users have a Coinbase or Robinhood account,\u201d explained Karnati.<\/p>\n

\u201c[These platforms] have limits to withdrawals, which is a hassle for [users]. With what we\u2019re making, you can buy directly to the self-custodial vault,\u201d he added, proving the point that convenience and top-notch security can co-exist in one app.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Company Name: Theya Founders: Sriram Bhargav Karnati, Smeet Bhatt and Vikas Choudhary Date Founded: December 2023 Location of Headquarters: San Francisco, CA Amount of Bitcoin Held in Treasury: \u201cIt\u2019s significant.\u201d Number of Employees: 7 Website: https:\/\/www.theya.us\/ Public or Private? Private Sriram Bhargav Karnati believes that top-notch security and usability are not mutually exclusive when it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crypto-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoins-101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26864"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoins-101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoins-101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoins-101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoins-101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26864\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoins-101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoins-101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoins-101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}