Privy vs Turnkey vs Dynamic: Embedded Wallet Security

By the Guardian team Updated November 2026 6 min read

Quick answer. No vendor wins outright. Dynamic's 2-of-2 MPC signs without assembling a full key. Privy and Turnkey use full keys in AWS Nitro Enclaves, with on-device and HSM options. Privy names the most audits; Turnkey publishes enclave proofs.

Watch: Privy vs Turnkey vs Dynamic: Embedded Wallet Security 1:46

Video transcript

No embedded wallet vendor wins outright. Privy, Turnkey and Dynamic each prove a different security property, so pick the one your reviewers need.

Privy and Turnkey use full keys in AWS Nitro Enclaves, with on-device and HSM options. Dynamic's docs say its two of two MPC signs without ever assembling one.

Ownership changed too. Stripe agreed to buy Privy in June 2025, and Fireblocks acquired Dynamic that October. Turnkey's docs announce no new owner.

New ownership is not a flaw, but it changes your contract. Ask for change of control notice, which SOC 2 report covers you, API support after migration, and independent key export.

Policies limit what a stolen session can sign, and each vendor says they run inside the enclave. Check Turnkey's root quorum first. It bypasses every policy.

Audit transparency differs most. Privy names four outside audits and a dated SOC 2 Type 2. Turnkey publishes verifiable enclave proofs. Dynamic's docs name none, and its security page redirects to Fireblocks.

Pick on what you must prove. Dynamic for no full key at signing, Turnkey for verifiable enclave code, Privy for named audits, and Turnkey's closed beta HSM Signing for your own HSM.

Much of the risk sits in your own integration. Guardian tests that part: your app, API, infrastructure and SDKs. Read the full comparison, or talk to Guardian at guardian.security.

Privy, Turnkey and Dynamic all let an app create wallets for its users and sign through an API, with no browser extension.

Two of the three now have new owners. Stripe agreed to buy Privy in June 2025, and Fireblocks bought Dynamic that October.

We compared them on what a security reviewer checks: where keys live, what policies enforce, what each vendor publishes, and who owns it.

Vendor claims come from each vendor's docs, read on November 4, 2026.

Key Isolation Models

The first question: where does the full private key exist, if at all?

Vendor	Key model	Where signing runs	Full key assembled?
Privy	Shamir split into encrypted shares	AWS Nitro Enclave, or an iframe on the user's device	Briefly, in enclave or device memory
Turnkey	Encrypted keys, decrypted only in an enclave	AWS Nitro Enclave running QuorumOS; your own HSM in closed beta	Inside the enclave, or inside your HSM
Dynamic	2-of-2 TSS-MPC: user share plus server share	User device and AWS Nitro Enclave	Never to sign, per its docs

Privy

In its enclave mode, Privy generates the wallet inside the enclave and splits it at once. The enclave share decrypts only inside the enclave; Privy stores the encrypted auth share.

To sign, the enclave checks the request and its policies, recombines the shares in memory, signs and discards the key.

Privy says enclave memory is "inaccessible to Privy and the host."

Apps can instead configure on-device signing, which rebuilds the key in an isolated iframe on the user's device for speed.

Turnkey

Turnkey runs key generation, signing and its policy engine inside Nitro enclaves running QuorumOS, its open-source enclave operating system.

It stores only encrypted key material, decrypted inside a verified enclave. Turnkey says "no single developer at Turnkey can alter or deploy enclaves, or reconstruct core secrets."

A closed beta, HSM Signing, keeps keys in the customer's own HSM instead. Turnkey still runs authentication and policy checks.

Dynamic

Dynamic uses a 2-of-2 threshold signature scheme. The user's share stays on the device; Dynamic's share is encrypted and used inside an AWS Nitro enclave.

Both shares are needed to sign. Dynamic says "the complete private key never exists, even within the TEE," and recovery can move to 2-of-3 with a backup share.

The trade-off is simple. MPC never assembles a whole key to sign. The enclave designs assemble it only inside isolated enclave memory.

Ownership and Roadmap Risk

A wallet vendor sits in your signing path for years, and its owner sets the roadmap.

Privy: Stripe's agreement to acquire it was reported on June 11, 2025, with terms undisclosed.
Dynamic: Fireblocks announced on October 23, 2025 that it had acquired Dynamic.
Turnkey: its docs and blog announce no change of owner.

Decrypt reported that Privy would continue as an independent product. Stripe and Privy now both describe Privy as "a Stripe company."

Today dynamic.xyz redirects to fireblocks.com, and Fireblocks' developer docs call Dynamic "a Fireblocks company."

New ownership is not a flaw. It changes what belongs in the contract:

Notice of any change of control, with a right to exit.
Which entity's SOC 2 report covers the product you use.
How long current APIs and SDKs stay supported after a migration.
A key export path that works without the vendor's help.

Our vendor due diligence questionnaire has the full question set.

Policy Controls

Policies decide what a stolen session or a buggy backend can sign. Each vendor says its policies run inside the enclave, before signing.

Vendor	Rules you can set	Default	Worth knowing
Privy	Transfer limits, recipient and contract allowlists, calldata limits	Deny when no rule matches	Owners can export keys unless a policy blocks it
Turnkey	Who must approve, and conditions such as destination address	Implicit deny; deny beats allow	The root quorum bypasses every policy
Dynamic	Address allow and deny lists, per-transaction value caps, export blocking	Allowlist mode blocks unlisted addresses	Raw signing blocked while any rule applies; transactions simulated first

Turnkey's root quorum is the setting to review first. Its shared responsibility model makes configuring it, backing up authenticators and securing credentials the customer's job.

Dynamic says every policy update is logged and traceable. Ask each vendor to show you that log for your account.

Audit Transparency

This is where the three differ most.

Vendor	Certification stated	Named audits	Other evidence
Privy	SOC 2 Type II (April 2026)	Cure53, Zellic, SwordBytes, Doyensec (2023 to 2024)	HackerOne bounty; audited open-source Shamir library
Turnkey	SOC 2 Type II	None named in its docs	Open-source QuorumOS; verifiable enclave proofs
Dynamic	None found in its docs	None named; docs cite "audited libraries"	Security page now redirects to Fireblocks

Privy's renewed SOC 2 Type II report covers November 1, 2025 to February 1, 2026.

After an August 2026 breach at Metabase, a support and analytics provider, Privy published a post-mortem within four days. It says wallet infrastructure and authentication were not affected.

Turnkey takes a different route. Its Turnkey Verified proofs can be checked against the AWS root certificate and reproduced from QuorumOS builds.

Dynamic's old security page now redirects to Fireblocks', which lists SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and C4 CCSS QSP Level 3. Ask Fireblocks whether the Dynamic product is in scope.

Pricing and Lock-In

List prices on November 4, 2026:

Vendor	Entry	Next tier	Priced by
Privy	Free to 499 monthly active users	$299 a month to 2,499 users; $499 to 9,999	Monthly active users
Turnkey	25 free signatures a month, then $0.10 each	Pro: $99 a month, $0.05 a signature	Signatures
Dynamic	Growth: $249 a month to 5,000 users	Enterprise: custom	Monthly active users

Lock-in comes down to export. All three support it, with different guards:

Privy: owners can export by default (client wallets on web only). A deny policy blocks it; a 2-of-2 key quorum needs both parties.
Turnkey: the enclave encrypts the key to your target key. Its export iframe keeps plaintext from your app and Turnkey.
Dynamic: a policy can block export. Offline recovery rebuilds a wallet locally, without Dynamic.

Run an export and a recovery before launch, not during a vendor outage.

Which to Pick

Pick on the property you most need to prove to your own reviewers:

No full key at signing: Dynamic's 2-of-2 MPC.
Enclave code you can verify yourself: Turnkey.
Named outside audits and a dated SOC 2 Type II: Privy.
Keys in your own HSM: Turnkey's HSM Signing, in closed beta.

Whichever you choose, much of the risk sits in your own integration.

So test your login flow, sessions, policy set and the SDK you ship. Our crypto wallet pentesting guide covers that test, and signing interface security covers what users see before they sign.

How Guardian Helps

Guardian tests the part the wallet vendor does not own: your app around it.

For fintechs, that means web app, API and infrastructure pentests, and SDK audits of what your client libraries encode and sign, and how they treat keys and tokens.

Guardian also builds your trust center: one page your partners, banks and auditors can read instead of emailing you. See the full scope on our audits and pentests page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Privy or Turnkey more secure?

Neither is strictly more secure. Turnkey decrypts keys only inside AWS Nitro Enclaves by default and publishes verifiable enclave proofs. Privy signs in an enclave or on-device, and names four outside audits and a dated SOC 2 Type II.

Are Privy, Turnkey and Dynamic non-custodial?

Each describes itself that way. Privy calls its wallets non-custodial, Turnkey says raw keys are never exposed to it, and Dynamic says users keep self-custody. Your policy and quorum settings decide who can actually sign.

Who owns Privy and Dynamic?

Stripe's deal to acquire Privy was reported on June 11, 2025, and both companies now call Privy a Stripe company. Fireblocks announced it had acquired Dynamic on October 23, 2025. Turnkey's docs and blog announce no change of owner.

Is MPC safer than a secure enclave?

It removes a different risk. With MPC, the full key is never assembled to sign. Enclave designs assemble it only inside isolated enclave memory. Dynamic combines both by using its server share inside an enclave.

Sources

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