Buying personas
Chief Information Security Officer
“Security-First Sarah”
Decision maker
Who they are
- Owns security architecture and key management policy
- Reports to CTO or CEO; board-level visibility on custody risk
- Background in enterprise security, often from TradFi or cloud infrastructure
- Evaluates vendors on audit trail depth, HSM integration, and incident response
Pain points
- Single points of failure — most custody solutions rely on one vendor’s proprietary HSM
- Closed-source risk — can’t audit the code that protects billions in assets
- Incident response gaps — no proven playbook for crypto-specific breach scenarios
- Key ceremony complexity — multi-sig ceremonies are error-prone without proper tooling
What they care about
- Open-source, auditable signing infrastructure
- Multi-sig architecture with geographically distributed keys
- SOC 2 Type II and penetration test reports
- Air-gapped signing options for cold storage
Content that converts
- Security architecture whitepapers
- Penetration test summaries and audit reports
- Comparison: open-source vs. closed-source custody
- Incident response framework documentation
CFO / Corporate Treasurer
“Bottom-Line Brian”
Budget holder
Who they are
- Controls the budget for custody infrastructure
- Increasingly responsible for Bitcoin treasury strategy (MicroStrategy effect)
- Needs to justify custody spend to the board in terms of risk reduction
- Evaluates total cost of custody including insurance, operations, and compliance
Pain points
- Hidden costs — custody fees, transaction fees, insurance premiums, and integration costs add up
- Insurance gaps — most custody insurance covers only a fraction of AUM
- Vendor lock-in — proprietary systems make switching costly and risky
- Board education — explaining Bitcoin custody risk to non-technical board members
What they care about
- Total cost of ownership vs. competitors
- Insurance coverage and proof of reserves
- No per-transaction fees that scale with AUM
- Clear ROI framework for custody spend
Content that converts
- Total cost of custody calculator / comparison
- Board presentation template for Bitcoin custody
- Insurance coverage analysis across providers
- Case study: custody cost reduction via multi-sig
Head of Digital Assets
“Champion Charlie”
Internal champion
Who they are
- Hired to build the crypto/digital assets practice at a TradFi institution
- Often a former crypto-native who moved to institutional side
- Must navigate internal politics and skepticism about Bitcoin
- Your primary point of contact; drives the evaluation process internally
Pain points
- Internal resistance — legacy teams skeptical of Bitcoin; needs ammunition to sell internally
- Vendor sprawl — evaluating 5–10 custody providers with different architectures
- Speed vs. process — crypto moves fast, institutional procurement does not
- Credibility gap — needs a vendor with both crypto-native depth and institutional polish
What they care about
- Vendor credibility (Blockstream’s Bitcoin pedigree)
- Easy-to-share materials for internal stakeholders
- Fast proof-of-concept to show internal momentum
- Roadmap alignment with their 12–24 month plan
Content that converts
- Internal business case template
- Vendor comparison matrix (Blockstream vs. competitors)
- Quick-start POC documentation
- Executive briefing deck they can present internally
CTO / VP Engineering
“Architect Anika”
Technical evaluator
Who they are
- Owns the technical architecture and integration decisions
- Evaluates API design, SDK quality, and developer experience
- Cares deeply about reliability, uptime SLAs, and disaster recovery
- Will block the deal if the technology doesn’t meet engineering standards
Pain points
- Integration complexity — custody APIs that don’t fit existing infrastructure
- Uptime anxiety — custody downtime during market volatility is catastrophic
- Black-box signing — can’t verify what happens inside proprietary HSMs
- Testing limitations — no sandbox or testnet environment for custody integrations
What they care about
- Clean API design, comprehensive SDKs, good documentation
- 99.99% uptime SLA with transparent status page
- Open-source components they can audit and extend
- Testnet/sandbox for risk-free integration testing
Content that converts
- API documentation and SDK quickstart guides
- Architecture diagrams and integration patterns
- Uptime and incident history transparency reports
- GitHub repos and open-source contribution activity
Chief Compliance Officer
“Regulatory Rita”
Gatekeeper
Who they are
- Responsible for regulatory compliance across all jurisdictions
- Must sign off on any custody solution before procurement can proceed
- Tracks evolving regulations: MiCA (EU), SEC guidance (US), MAS (Singapore)
- Focuses on audit trails, reporting, and jurisdiction-specific requirements
Pain points
- Regulatory fragmentation — EU, US, and Asian frameworks all differ and keep changing
- Audit trail gaps — custody providers don’t generate compliance-ready reports
- Proof of reserves — no standardized way to prove holdings to regulators
- Liability ambiguity — unclear who is liable when multi-party custody fails
What they care about
- Immutable audit logs for every signing event
- Automated compliance reporting by jurisdiction
- Clear custody liability framework
- Proof of reserves that regulators will accept
Content that converts
- Regulatory compliance guide by jurisdiction
- Audit log sample exports and reporting templates
- Legal opinion letters on custody liability
- MiCA / SEC / MAS readiness checklist
Board Member / Investment Committee
“Fiduciary Frank”
Final approver
Who they are
- Has fiduciary responsibility; ultimate sign-off on custody decisions
- Limited technical knowledge of Bitcoin; relies on internal team’s recommendation
- Cares about reputation risk, regulatory exposure, and asset protection
- Reads executive summaries, not whitepapers
Pain points
- Reputation risk — a custody failure or breach would be career-ending
- Knowledge gap — doesn’t fully understand the technology but must approve it
- Precedent anxiety — few institutional peers to benchmark against
- Headline risk — “Company loses $X in crypto” is their nightmare scenario
What they care about
- Brand credibility and track record of the vendor
- Insurance coverage and risk mitigation framework
- Peer adoption (which other institutions use this?)
- Executive summary they can digest in 5 minutes
Content that converts
- One-page executive brief on Blockstream custody
- Peer adoption case studies (anonymized if needed)
- Risk mitigation framework and insurance summary
- Adam Back / leadership credibility materials
ABM account tiers
200 target accounts segmented into 4 tiers. Each tier gets a different level of marketing investment and personalization.
Persona role in each tier
Enterprise custody is a committee decision. Each persona plays a different role depending on the account tier.
Buying journey
Stage 1
Problem recognition
Triggers
- Board asks “how are our Bitcoin holdings secured?”
- Competitor announces Bitcoin custody offering
- Regulatory body issues new custody guidance
- Client demands Bitcoin exposure
Active persona
- Head of Digital Assets recognizes the gap
- CFO gets questions from the board
- CCO flags regulatory changes
Content needed
- Industry reports and market sizing
- Thought leadership on institutional custody
- Regulatory landscape overviews
Stage 2
Solution exploration
Activities
- Google searches for “institutional Bitcoin custody”
- Peer conversations at conferences
- RFI sent to 5–10 vendors
- Internal working group formed
Active persona
- Head of Digital Assets leads vendor search
- CTO evaluates architecture options
- CISO defines security requirements
Content needed
- Vendor comparison matrices
- Architecture overview documentation
- Security model whitepapers
Stage 3
Requirements & evaluation
Activities
- Shortlist reduced to 2–3 vendors
- Technical POC / sandbox testing
- Security audit and compliance review
- Reference calls with existing customers
Active persona
- CTO runs technical evaluation
- CISO conducts security review
- CCO validates regulatory compliance
Content needed
- POC environment and sandbox access
- SOC 2 reports and pen test summaries
- Customer reference stories
Stage 4
Business case & approval
Activities
- Internal business case presentation
- Board / investment committee review
- Legal and procurement negotiation
- Insurance and liability assessment
Active persona
- CFO presents cost justification
- Head of Digital Assets presents strategic case
- Board gives final approval
Content needed
- Executive one-pager and ROI framework
- Board presentation template
- Total cost of custody comparison
Stage 5
Implementation & expansion
Activities
- Onboarding and key ceremony setup
- Integration with existing systems
- Phased migration of assets
- Expand to additional business units
Active persona
- CTO leads integration
- CISO oversees key ceremonies
- Head of Digital Assets drives expansion
Content needed
- Implementation guides and runbooks
- Key ceremony documentation
- Success metrics and QBR templates
Common objections by persona
“How do we know Blockstream won’t disappear in 5 years?”
Persona: Board / CFO · Response: Blockstream has been building Bitcoin infrastructure since 2014. Led by Adam Back (inventor of Hashcash, cited in the Bitcoin whitepaper). Profitable, well-funded, and building the core infrastructure the Bitcoin network runs on — satellite network, Liquid sidechain, mining operations. If Bitcoin exists, Blockstream exists.
“We need SOC 2. Do you have it?”
Persona: CCO / CISO · Response: Position compliance readiness and the open-source advantage — closed-source competitors ask you to trust their SOC 2 report. Blockstream lets you audit the actual code. Provide available audit reports, pen test summaries, and compliance documentation. Map to specific regulatory frameworks (MiCA, SEC, MAS).
“Coinbase Custody / BitGo already has 80% of the market. Why switch?”
Persona: Head of Digital Assets / CTO · Response: Market share ≠ best architecture. Coinbase and BitGo use proprietary, closed-source signing infrastructure you cannot audit. Blockstream’s multi-sig architecture eliminates the single-vendor risk that concentrated custody creates. You’re not switching — you’re adding a security layer.
“What happens if a key holder is compromised?”
Persona: CISO / CTO · Response: Multi-sig by design means no single key holder can move funds. Geographically distributed keys with configurable quorum thresholds (e.g., 3-of-5). Key rotation and recovery procedures are built into the ceremony process. Compare to single-HSM solutions where one compromise means total loss.
“This is too complex for our team. We don’t have crypto expertise.”
Persona: CTO / CFO · Response: Offer white-glove onboarding: dedicated solutions engineer, guided key ceremonies, integration support. Provide sandbox environment for risk-free testing. Highlight that multi-sig is conceptually simpler than it sounds — it’s just “two keys to open the vault” applied to Bitcoin.
“Our board will never approve a Bitcoin-only vendor. What about Ethereum?”
Persona: Board / Head of Digital Assets · Response: Bitcoin represents 60%+ of institutional crypto AUM and is the only digital asset with ETF approval at scale. Getting Bitcoin custody right is the highest-leverage first step. Blockstream’s Liquid Network also supports tokenized assets. Position as “Bitcoin-first” not “Bitcoin-only.”
Persona-specific messaging
Lead messages by persona
CISO → “The only institutional custody solution where you can audit every line of signing code. Open-source multi-sig, air-gapped options, no single points of failure.”
CFO → “Institutional-grade Bitcoin custody without per-transaction fees that scale with your AUM. Transparent pricing, no vendor lock-in, built by the team behind Bitcoin’s core infrastructure.”
Head of Digital Assets → “Built by the people who build Bitcoin. Give your internal stakeholders the credibility story they need — from the company founded by Adam Back, cited in the Bitcoin whitepaper.”
CTO → “Clean APIs, open-source signing, testnet sandbox, and 99.99% uptime SLA. Custody infrastructure that meets the same engineering standards as your core platform.”
CCO → “Immutable audit trails for every signing event. Compliance reporting mapped to MiCA, SEC, and MAS frameworks. Proof of reserves your regulators will accept.”
Board → “Trusted by institutions since 2014. Led by the cryptographer cited in Bitcoin’s founding document. Your fiduciary duty, met.”
Blockstream’s competitive advantages
Open-source signing infrastructure
Multi-sig with no single point of failure
Adam Back / Bitcoin whitepaper credibility
Liquid Network for tokenized assets
Air-gapped signing options
No per-transaction AUM fees
10+ years of Bitcoin infrastructure
Geographically distributed key storage
Content priorities by funnel stage