Silence Laboratories names Hadley Stern to lead institutional push

Silence Laboratories hired digital asset veteran Hadley Stern as Head of Institutions to help banks, custodians and other financial firms deploy quantum-safe cryptographic infrastructure on their own systems. The move underscores growing demand for custody technology that lets institutions keep direct control over key security operations.

Why it matters: - Banks and custodians want digital asset infrastructure they can run on-premises and govern under their own security policies. - Silence Laboratories is targeting that demand with quantum-safe, MPC-based tools that keep institutions in control of key generation, storage and signing. - The hire adds a senior operator with experience building digital asset businesses inside Fidelity and BNY Mellon.

What happened: - Silence Laboratories appointed Hadley Stern as Head of Institutions on October 15, 2026. - Stern will lead collaborations with banks, custodians and other financial institutions adopting Silence Laboratories' technology. - The role focuses on helping institutions retain direct control over systems that secure digital assets. - Stern previously advised Silence Laboratories as a board advisor.

The details: - Stern helped found Fidelity Digital Asset Services, one of the earliest major players in digital assets. - Stern served as Global Head of Digital Asset Custody at BNY Mellon and helped launch the bank’s custody platform for bitcoin and ether. - Stern also led the Innovation Lab at Amazon Web Services and held leadership roles at Bloq and Marinade. - Stern said institutions need full control over the technology securing customer assets. - Stern said Silence Laboratories pairs world-class cryptography with software institutions can run themselves. - Silence Laboratories’ Silent Shard technology uses multiparty computation, or MPC, to distribute signing authority across separate key shares. - Silent Shard allows transactions to be signed without assembling a complete private key. - Institutions can deploy the software within their own infrastructure and manage key generation, storage and signing under their own security policies. - Silence Laboratories’ servers do not need to process transactions for that custody workflow. - BitGo already uses Silent Shard libraries across its hot and cold custody wallets. - BitGo’s deployment keeps key material, key generation and signing operations outside Silence Laboratories’ infrastructure. - Silence Laboratories is also developing post-quantum MPC infrastructure for institutions preparing for advances in quantum computing. - Earlier this year, Silence Laboratories and BitGo completed a post-quantum transaction simulation. - The simulation showed quantum-resistant signing inside an institutional wallet workflow while preserving distributed key control, policy enforcement and separation of duties. - Silence Laboratories also builds Silent Compute for privacy-preserving analytics. - The company is developing AP3, an open-source agent-to-agent communications protocol designed to keep sensitive information private. - Silence Laboratories says its products secure digital asset infrastructure for banks, including G-SIBs, and global institutional custody platforms.

Between the lines: - The appointment signals Silence Laboratories is pushing deeper into enterprise sales, where trust, control and operational fit matter as much as cryptography. - Stern’s background at Fidelity, BNY Mellon and AWS gives Silence Laboratories credibility with institutions that want technology they can govern internally. - BitGo’s use of Silent Shard offers a live reference point for institutional adoption.

What's next: - Stern will likely focus on building more banking and custody partnerships around Silent Shard and related infrastructure. - Silence Laboratories is expected to keep positioning its stack around quantum-safe custody and privacy-preserving computation as institutional security requirements evolve. - The company says more information is available at Silence Laboratories.