Zerohash Introduces AUTH for Simpler Crypto Transfers

Highlights

Zerohash has launched AUTH, a service designed to simplify crypto transfers between linked exchange accounts and self-custody wallets. Users can select an account in a participating app, sign in, and approve a transfer without copying a wallet address or choosing a blockchain network. The service supports crypto, stablecoins, and blockchain-based securities such as stock tokens. Zerohash reports more than 600 connections; its developer documentation lists 639 wallets and four exchange or brokerage accounts. The launch arrives as the company pursues a narrower national trust bank charter application after an earlier filing was returned.

AUTH handles routing and settlement, while participating apps determine which assets, accounts, and transfer types users can access.

Sentiment Analysis

• The article’s overall tone is primarily neutral and explanatory. It describes AUTH’s functions, supported assets, connection figures, and transfer process without presenting the service as a guaranteed improvement or endorsing its use.
• There is a modestly positive dimension in the focus on reducing friction. The product is presented as a way to avoid copying addresses, selecting networks, and repeating checks or test payments. A wallet executive’s comment supports the view that these steps have been a significant obstacle for users.
• The coverage also includes business and regulatory context that tempers the positive account of the launch. Zerohash’s earlier charter application was returned as materially deficient, and its replacement application remains pending. The article also notes that acquisition discussions with Mastercard fell through.
• Overall, the sentiment is mixed but leans cautiously positive about the product’s usability, while remaining factual about regulatory uncertainty and the company’s business context.

Article Text

Zerohash has introduced AUTH, a service intended to make cryptocurrency transfers between linked accounts more straightforward. The tool allows people to move digital assets without manually copying wallet addresses or choosing a blockchain network. Users access the feature through an app that supports AUTH, select an account or wallet, sign in, and approve the transfer. Zerohash says the service handles the routing and settlement involved in the transaction.

The announcement was made at the Money20/20 conference in Las Vegas. AUTH is designed to connect exchange accounts and self-custody wallets, and it supports crypto, stablecoins, and blockchain-based securities, including stock tokens. According to Zerohash, the service supports more than 600 connections. Its developer documentation lists 639 wallets and four exchange or brokerage accounts. The service names Coinbase, Robinhood, Gemini, MetaMask, and Phantom among its supported connections. Coinbase, Robinhood, and Gemini are live, while Kraken is in beta.

The product’s workflow is intended to reduce the steps that users typically encounter when transferring digital assets. Instead of copying an address and choosing a network themselves, users approve a transaction within a participating app. Each app determines which assets, accounts, and transfer types it makes available. AUTH provides the connection and transaction infrastructure, but the participating app retains control over the options it offers its users.

Ryan Beaudry, AUTH’s general manager, said that wider adoption of onchain services depends on people being able to use them without having to think about the underlying technology. Beaudry previously served as executive vice president of global product and operations for open finance at Mastercard. Zerohash’s announcement frames usability, trust, and user control as important considerations in making blockchain-based transactions more accessible.

Alex LaPrade, the chief executive of a non-custodial Ethereum and multi-chain crypto wallet, described the difficulties users have faced when sending assets to wallets. Those transfers have often required repeated address checks and test payments. LaPrade characterized these steps as “one of the biggest points of friction” that AUTH aims to simplify. The service is therefore positioned as a way to streamline the transfer process rather than as a change to the underlying assets themselves.

The launch comes as Zerohash continues to pursue regulatory approvals. In July, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency returned the company’s application for a national trust bank charter, a step the agency takes when it considers a filing materially deficient. Zerohash described the return as an administrative process and submitted a narrower application on Aug. 18. That application remains pending.

Founded in 2017, Zerohash says it has a regulatory presence across the EU, Latin America, Bermuda, and the U.S. Its website states that it operates regulated entities in 51 U.S. jurisdictions. The Chicago-based company provides infrastructure to businesses through APIs and developer tools, handling services that include custody, compliance, liquidity, settlement, and blockchain connectivity. Its clients include companies such as Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade.

Zerohash was also in acquisition discussions with Mastercard, but those talks fell through earlier this year. At the time, the company was reportedly discussing a $250 million fundraising round at a $1.5 billion valuation. These business developments form part of the wider context for AUTH’s launch, alongside the company’s efforts to expand its regulatory standing and provide infrastructure to financial and digital-asset businesses.

Key Insights Table