Jack Kearney

Jack Kearney is a co-founder of Turnkey [1]. He previously worked as an engineer at Coinbase Custody [1].

Founded

• CTurnkey

Insights & ideas

Jack Kearney frames crypto custody as fundamentally a private key security problem: since blockchain transactions require a digital signature, protecting the private key is equivalent to protecting the underlying funds, and custody solutions exist largely to secure those keys against theft [1]. He also notes that custody is a regulatory trigger term, since funds above certain thresholds or regulated entities are often required to store assets with a qualified custodian [1].

Kearney sees Turnkey as filling a gap he observed while doing custody work at Coinbase and Polychain Capital, namely the lack of programmable, API-driven tools for storing and managing crypto keys [1]. He draws an analogy to AWS's shift from on-prem to cloud services, arguing that racking servers or building custody infrastructure in-house is undifferentiated work, and that Turnkey aims to handle that securely so developers can focus on what actually differentiates their products [1]. He also emphasizes that although crypto feels new, much of the underlying cryptography and infrastructure Turnkey relies on has existed for decades, and its novelty comes from recombining established technology [1].

Experience

1. Co-Founder

   TurnkeyFeb 2022 to Present
2. CTO

   Polychain CapitalApr 2021 to Feb 2022
3. Engineer

   Polychain CapitalApr 2019 to Mar 2021
4. Engineer

   CoinbaseJun 2016 to Mar 2019
5. Engineer

   KitchitMay 2013 to Apr 2016
6. CEO & Co-Founder

   Wilder Lines, LLCMar 2010 to Apr 2013
7. Teaching Assistant - Computer Science

   Oberlin CollegeJan 2012 to May 2012
8. Research Assistant - Economics

   Oberlin CollegeMay 2011 to Sep 2011

Education

• Oberlin College · B.A., Mathematics, Mathematical Economics, Computer Science (minor)2008 - 2012

Media & appearances

• Jack Kearney on Turnkey, Crypto Key Security & Building Verifiable ...

  Jack Kearney discusses his career path from discovering Bitcoin in 2011 through joining Coinbase as an early infrastructure and security engineer, where he worked on Coinbase Custody. He explains crypto custody as the secure protection of private keys needed to transact on blockchain networks, and describes Turnkey as an API-driven developer tool that provides programmable solutions for storing and managing crypto keys.

• Verifiable Key Management and TEEs with TurnkeyZero Knowledge · Oct 1, 2025
• Jack Kearney on Turnkey, Crypto Key Security & Building Verifiable Blockchain InfrastructureThe Software Leaders Uncensored Podcast · Sep 25, 2025
• An API to Securely Manage Private Keys At-Scale, with Bryce Ferguson & Jack Kearney (Turnkey)WAGMI Ventures Podcast · Mar 4, 2024
• Bryce Ferguson and Jack Kearney, CEO and CTO of TurnkeyWeb3 Galaxy Brain 🌌🧠 · Dec 19, 2023
• Jack Kearney on Turnkey, Crypto Key Security & Building Verifiable ...
• An API to Securely Manage Private Keys At-Scale, with Bryce Ferguson ...
• Bryce Ferguson and Jack Kearne - Web3 Galaxy Brain - Apple PodcastsWeb3 Galaxy Brain

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