Fortress is owned by ripple. They control the keys.
You can advocate for self custody all you want, but if you offer custody and it's provided by ripple, this is very bad.
Discussion
Outside of the IRA products, I don’t think they offer a custody solution. They or fortress holds the bitcoin until you buy it and withdraw, which in that sense is no different than an ATM holding bitcoin until I but it and withdraw it.
Important nuance, I believe Swan’s Bitcoin now custodies with BitGo and their fiat custodies with fortress trust. So the question is do you trust fortress trust with your fiat?
Something doesn't feel good about that, no, and I think they should offer a choice of custodian (either let people choose a different custodian and / or offer the option of self-custody).
that's horrible, I had wondered who had owned it and hadn't quite had time to dig in. Looks like that is just the worst. Thanks for the clarification