You have decided to buy the apartment, the Riva, or the Richard Mille, and you intend to settle it in bitcoin. The question that decides how well the transaction goes is not which broker you use. It is where the coin is converted, who holds it at the moment of conversion, and what that conversion costs. For holdings of any size, a retail exchange is the wrong venue. Two American firms now operate desks aimed squarely at that problem, and they have taken opposite approaches to it.
The problem a desk is supposed to solve
A large bitcoin position does not convert cleanly on a public order book. Selling into thin liquidity moves the price against you, and the mechanics of an exchange add a second layer of risk: to sell, you must first deposit, which means surrendering custody to a third party during precisely the window in which the asset is most valuable to you. Buyers of eight-figure assets have generally solved this by routing through an over-the-counter desk, where a counterparty quotes a single price for the whole block and settlement is bilateral.
The two firms most often named in this context by bitcoin holders are Casa and Unchained. Both are American, both are licensed, both are known primarily for multi-key custody rather than for trading, and both added dedicated desks to their product lines. They are the right pair to compare because they arrived at the same destination from different directions — and because their published terms differ in a way that tells you a great deal about who each one is built for.
One clarification belongs at the top, because it is the sort of thing a reader discovers too late. Neither of these is an institutional block desk in the sense that a hedge fund would use the term. Neither publishes a minimum in the tens of millions, neither advertises risk-priced block execution, and neither positions itself against the wholesale liquidity providers that serve trading firms. What they offer is something more useful to a private buyer: a desk that trades directly against your own cold storage, staffed by people who will answer the telephone. Read on that basis, they are excellent. Read as a substitute for a wholesale desk, they will disappoint.
Unchained: the desk that publishes its price
Unchained’s trading desk exists to remove the exchange from the middle of a purchase. Bitcoin bought through it settles directly into an Unchained collaborative multisig vault; bitcoin sold through it leaves that vault at the moment of execution. There is no deposit step and no withdrawal step, which eliminates both the custody window and the address-entry error that withdrawals invite.
The terms are published in full, which is rarer than it should be:
- 1.0% flat on personal, trust and business vaults.
- 1.5% on IRA vaults.
- $2,000 minimum trade.
- Available in most US states, with expansion stated as in progress.
- Most clients can be trading within 24 hours of creating a vault, completing profile verification and signing the trade agreements.
- Trading-client defaults carry a cancellation fee of no less than $200 plus any loss incurred between execution and default.
Signature clients — Unchained’s white-glove tier at $6,000 for the first year, renewing at $4,500 annually for individuals, or $7,500 a year for a business — qualify for preferred trading rates, which are not published. Vaults themselves are $250 per vault per year. The firm states 100,000+ BTC held in vaults, 12,000+ clients and zero lost bitcoin.
Unchained operates through four separately licensed entities: Unchained Capital, Inc. (NMLS ID 1900773), Unchained Trading, LLC (NMLS ID 2273761), B&C Lending LLC (NMLS ID 2656661) and Bitcoin Collateral Services LLC (NMLS ID 2423070). It is explicit that it is not a bank. Its 2026 expansion also added Gannett Trust, described as the first trust company designed for bitcoin holders and their fiduciaries — relevant to any purchase held in trust rather than in a personal name.
Last Verified: July 2026 — unchained.com/pricing.
Casa: the desk you have to qualify for
Casa approaches the same transaction from the custody side. Founded in 2018, it states $10+ billion protected and 40,000+ clients, and it holds SOC 2 Type II attestation. Its structure is worth understanding precisely, because it is unusual: Casa itself is non-custodial and does not hold, control or transmit customer funds. The buy-and-sell function inside the Casa app is provided by Zero Hash LLC and Zero Hash Liquidity Services LLC. Zero Hash LLC is licensed for Virtual Currency Business Activity by the New York State Department of Financial Services and is a licensed money transmitter in all required US jurisdictions. Separately, Casa Financial, LLC is registered with FinCEN as a Money Services Business.
That architecture has a real consequence for a large buyer. Casa has designed itself so that it never sits between you and your bitcoin — which is exactly what you want from a custody provider, and which is why the trading function has to be provided by a licensed third party rather than by Casa.
Above the in-app buy and sell function sits a dedicated OTC trading desk, described on Casa’s own site as offering tailored execution and institutional-grade safeguards for significant positions. Access is by application: the call to action is “Request eligibility,” routed to Casa’s advisors. Casa publishes no OTC rate, no minimum and no eligibility threshold.
Casa’s membership tiers are published, and matter because desk access sits on top of them:
- Standard — $21/month, billed as $250 annually (one month free). Three-key vaults securing BTC, ETH, USDC and USDT. Email support. Bring your own hardware.
- Premium — $175/month, billed as $2,100 annually. Five-key vaults, a welcome package containing three hardware devices, Faraday and tamper-evident bags, one-on-one video onboarding, one free device replacement per year.
- Private Client — custom pricing. Optional sixth key on bitcoin vaults, family signing and shared accounts, a 24/7 security emergency line, unlimited device replacements, a purpose-built ongoing security programme, and Inheritance with Enhanced Verification (US residents only).
Business, Enterprise and Government tiers exist above these. Memberships can be paid in bitcoin. Casa vaults are compatible with Ledger, Trezor, Coldcard and Keystone devices.
Last Verified: July 2026 — casa.io/pricing and casa.io/private-client.
Head to head
| Casa | Unchained | |
|---|---|---|
| Desk type | Dedicated OTC desk, application only | Trading desk, open to all vault clients |
| Published trading rate | Not published | 1.0% personal/trust/business; 1.5% IRA |
| Published minimum | Not published | $2,000 |
| Who executes | Zero Hash LLC (NYDFS-licensed) for in-app buy/sell | Unchained Trading, LLC (NMLS 2273761) |
| Custody model | Non-custodial; Casa never holds funds | Collaborative multisig; client holds a key |
| Entry cost | $250/year (Standard) | $250/vault/year |
| White-glove tier | Private Client — custom pricing | Signature — $6,000 yr 1, then $4,500 |
| Assets supported | BTC, ETH, USDC, USDT | Bitcoin only |
| Multisig configurations | 3-key, 5-key, optional 6-key | Collaborative multisig vaults |
| Geography | Inheritance worldwide; Enhanced Verification US only | Trading in most US states; IRA US only |
| Security attestation | SOC 2 Type II | Four NMLS-licensed entities |
| Trust company | — | Gannett Trust |
| Credit against holdings | — | Commercial loans, 12.0% interest, $150,000 min. |
Last Verified: July 2026. Every figure above is taken from the named company’s own current website.
What a settlement actually costs
Consider a buyer converting $2,000,000 of bitcoin to fund a purchase.
Through Unchained’s published desk, the trading fee is 1.0%, or $20,000, plus $250 for the vault. The number is knowable in advance, which is the entire point of publishing it. A Signature membership at $6,000 in year one buys a preferred rate that is not disclosed; if that rate were 0.75%, the membership would pay for itself on a single $2.4 million trade, but Unchained does not publish the figure, so this remains arithmetic rather than advice.
Through Casa, the honest answer is that the cost cannot be calculated from public information. The in-app buy and sell function is described as low-fee without a published rate, and the OTC desk quotes on application. A buyer must apply, qualify and receive terms before knowing what the transaction costs.
This is the single most decision-relevant difference between the two, and it cuts both ways. A published flat rate is a considerable virtue when you are comparing options and cannot yet talk to anybody; it is a limitation at size, because a flat 1.0% is a poor price on a very large block, and a desk that quotes will usually beat a desk that posts. The buyer moving $250,000 is better served by the published number. The buyer moving $20 million should be talking to somebody, and should also be talking to desks beyond these two.
A word on each firm’s comparison of the other
Both companies publish comparison tables that include the other, and neither should be relied upon. Casa’s inheritance comparison, live today, characterises Unchained as costing a $750 annual minimum with three-key vaults only, identity proof required, inheritance at extra charge and advisory starting at $5,000. Unchained’s own published pricing sets vaults at $250 per vault per year and Signature at $6,000 in year one. We are not in a position to reconcile the two — the figures may reflect different bundles, or a stale snapshot — but the discrepancy is instructive.
Use each company’s numbers for itself and nobody else’s. That is the standard applied throughout this comparison, and it is the reason every figure above carries a link to the page it came from.
What neither desk does
A luxury purchase rarely ends at the desk, and it is worth being plain about where these services stop.
Neither settles with your seller. Both convert bitcoin to dollars in your own account, or dollars to bitcoin into your own vault. The wire to the dealership, the developer or the brokerage is a separate step, executed by you or your bank, and it is that wire — not the crypto leg — that most often causes delay, because the receiving institution has to be comfortable with the source of funds.
Neither is a substitute for tax planning. Converting bitcoin to fund a purchase is a disposal, and the gain is taxable in most jurisdictions in the year it is realised. The desk’s 1.0% is frequently the smallest number in the transaction.
Geography is a real constraint. Unchained’s trading desk is available in most US states and its IRA is US-only. Casa’s inheritance feature is worldwide, but Enhanced Verification is restricted to US residents. A buyer settling in Monaco, Dubai or Singapore should confirm availability directly before building a timetable around either.
Neither escrows the asset. If you require simultaneous exchange of coin for title, that is an escrow arrangement, arranged separately.
The settlement sequence, in order
Buyers routinely underestimate the calendar, not the cost. The desk is the fastest part of the chain; everything around it is slower. A realistic sequence for a seven-figure purchase settled through either firm runs as follows.
- Establish the vault and complete verification. Unchained states that most clients can trade within 24 hours of creating a vault, completing profile verification and signing the trade agreements. Casa’s OTC desk requires an eligibility application first, which is a conversation rather than a form, and should be started well before you need it.
- Fund or position the coin. Bitcoin already held in the vault is ready. Bitcoin arriving from elsewhere needs confirmations, and moving a large position from an exchange is itself a transaction worth rehearsing with a small test amount.
- Agree the price. Through Unchained this is a published 1.0% against a live quote. Through Casa’s desk it is a quoted price for the block.
- Settle to your own account. Dollars land with you, not with the seller. This is the step most buyers assume away.
- Satisfy the receiving institution. The wire to a developer, dealership or brokerage is where a transaction stalls. Banks receiving large sums originating in digital assets will ask for source-of-funds documentation, and assembling it after the coin has been sold is the wrong order. Prepare it first.
- Complete the purchase and record the disposal. The tax position crystallised at step three, whatever happens afterwards.
The instructive point is that steps five and six, not step three, determine whether a purchase completes on schedule. A desk that executes in minutes does not help if the receiving bank takes three weeks to become comfortable.
The alternative: not selling at all
For a buyer with conviction in the asset, the most interesting option is frequently not to trade. Unchained’s commercial loans allow dollar liquidity against a bitcoin position without a disposal, and the terms are published: 12.0% interest, an illustrative 14.18% APR on a twelve-payment example, a 2.00% origination fee, a $150,000 minimum, no credit check and no prepayment penalty. Collateral sits in a multisig vault in which the borrower holds one of three keys, with zero rehypothecation by design and on-chain verification available at any time. A forced liquidation carries a 2% selling fee.
Set against a sale, the comparison is straightforward arithmetic with an uncertain input. Selling $2,000,000 of bitcoin costs 1.0% in desk fees and triggers a capital gain that, for a long-held position in a high-tax jurisdiction, can dwarf the fee. Borrowing the same amount costs 2% at origination and 12% a year, is not a taxable event, and leaves the position intact — but it introduces margin risk and a running cost that compounds if the purchase was a poor idea. Neither answer is universally right, and this publication does not give financial advice. What can be said plainly is that the decision deserves to be made deliberately rather than by default, and that a great many bitcoin holders sell when they had no need to. Last Verified: July 2026.
Casa offers no lending product, which is a genuine functional gap rather than a stylistic difference, and a reason the two firms are frequently used together.
Which desk suits which buyer
Choose Unchained if you want a known price before you speak to anybody, if you value the ability to buy directly into cold storage without an exchange in the chain, if you may want to borrow against the position rather than sell it, or if the holding sits in a trust or a retirement account. The published 1.0%, the $2,000 minimum and the roughly 24-hour onboarding make it the more predictable of the two, and the loan book and trust company make it the more complete financial relationship.
Choose Casa if custody architecture is the first-order concern and trading is incidental to it, if you hold stablecoins or ether alongside bitcoin, if you want a provider that structurally never touches your funds, or if your risk profile is personal rather than merely financial — a public profile, a large visible position, a family. The five- and six-key configurations, the 24/7 emergency line and the personal security advisory have no equivalent on the Unchained side.
A material number of serious holders use both, and that is a defensible arrangement rather than a hedge: Casa for the long-term reserve, Unchained for the vault that funds transactions and secures credit.
The hardware underneath
Both models rest on the same foundation. A multi-key vault is only as good as the devices holding its keys, and both providers require real hardware. Casa provides devices in its Premium and Private Client welcome packages and supports Ledger, Trezor, Coldcard and Keystone; Unchained includes two premium hardware wallets with Signature and its Premium Service Suites. A buyer assembling a vault independently should read our comparison of the current hardware wallets before choosing, and can purchase the Trezor Safe 7 directly from the manufacturer. Buy hardware only from the manufacturer or an authorised channel — a device with an unknown history has no place in a vault holding a seven-figure position.
Company Crypto-Ready Profile
| Company | Founded | Regulatory footing | Desk | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casa | 2018 | Casa Financial, LLC — FinCEN-registered MSB. Buy/sell via Zero Hash LLC, NYDFS-licensed. SOC 2 Type II. | Dedicated OTC desk, application only; terms unpublished | Verified — July 2026 |
| Unchained | Unchained Capital, Inc. | NMLS 1900773 · 2273761 · 2656661 · 2423070. Not a bank. | Trading desk, 1.0% flat, $2,000 minimum | Verified — July 2026 |
Further Reading
- Collaborative Custody Explained: How Multisig Protects Large Bitcoin Holdings
- Bitcoin-Backed Loans Compared: Borrowing Without Selling
- The Hardware Wallets Worth Owning
- Bitcoin Inheritance and Estate Planning
- The Vetted Index: 101 Luxury Brands, Each Dated and Sourced
Disclosure: Bitcoinionaire earns a commission on hardware wallet purchases made through links on this page. We have no commercial relationship with Casa or Unchained, and neither company has reviewed, approved or paid for this comparison. Every figure is taken from each company’s own published materials and is stamped Last Verified: July 2026. Terms change; confirm directly before transacting.
The Acquisition Desk. If you are structuring a significant purchase and want the acceptance position confirmed in writing before you commit — which assets, which wallet types, what ceiling, and whether it is acceptance or OTC conversion — that is what the Acquisition Desk does, from $450 in three business days. No vendor pays for inclusion anywhere on this site. See a sample memorandum.
