Turnkey: A breakthrough key management system with verifiable security

The Turnkey project aims to redefine the fundamental principles of cryptographic key management. It offers a fully verifiable, scalable, and secure infrastructure that allows developers to embed wallets and automate transactions without the need to build their own key storage systems. Thanks to its unique architecture, which leverages the Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), Turnkey delivers an unprecedented level of trust and transparency. The idea is simple: managing private keys should not require a trade-off between security, performance, and convenience.

• Architecture and Core Principles of Turnkey
• Project Products: Embedded Wallets and Transaction Automation
• Security, TEE, and Verifiability in Turnkey
• Technical Specifications of Turnkey
• Project Outlook and Market
• Conclusion

Architecture and Core Principles of Turnkey

Turnkey’s architecture is based on isolating trusted processes from the external environment. The core concept is to move all sensitive operations into the Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), where they can be verified. The project employs a modular structure in which critical components — Signer, Policy Engine, Notarizer, and TLS Fetcher — operate within the enclave. These modules handle transaction signing, access policy validation, logging, and secure data parsing. They are separated from the external infrastructure, which includes the API Gateway and Coordinator.

Key architectural principles of Turnkey include:

1. Minimized trust: only the enclave has access to critical operations;
2. Seedless architecture: key management without manual storage of private data;
3. Reproducibility: all enclave components can be verified against their source code;
4. Performance: capable of processing millions of transactions with sub-100ms latency.

This segmentation minimizes the trust surface and reduces attack risks. All internal communication occurs via gRPC, and the source code of all components is publicly verifiable. The project follows the principle of “trust through verification,” not central authority. This enables a universal framework for key management that can adapt to the needs of both startups and institutional players. In essence, Turnkey provides a unique combination of flexibility and verifiable security suitable for any decentralized solution.

Project Products: Embedded Wallets and Transaction Automation

Turnkey offers two core products: Embedded Wallets and Transaction Automation. Embedded Wallets allow developers to create wallets directly inside applications without requiring browser extensions, seed phrases, or facing typical Web3 UX barriers. Supported login methods include email, OAuth, passkeys, and biometric authentication. The second product, Transaction Automation, provides APIs for key management, automated transaction signing, policy setup, and action auditing.

Turnkey’s key capabilities include:

• Wallet creation and management via API;
• Multi-chain transaction support (Ethereum, Solana, L2);
• Quorum configuration and multi-level access controls;
• Encrypted import and export of private keys.

These tools enable enterprise-grade transaction control. Use cases include Moonshot using Embedded Wallets for memecoin trading with biometric login, and Alchemy integrating Turnkey as a secure component in account abstraction. Notably, each product can be integrated into existing infrastructure with minimal friction. As a result, Turnkey eliminates technical barriers for Web3 teams aiming to ensure high-level security without compromising user experience.

Security, TEE, and Verifiability in Turnkey

Turnkey delivers a unique level of security through deep integration with enclave technologies and verifiable execution principles. All key actions occur within TEE environments, such as AWS Nitro Enclaves, where code execution cannot be altered or spoofed. Each enclave contains a minimal set of components: Signer, Policy Engine, Quorum logic, and TLS Fetcher. Open-source solutions like QuorumOS and StageX are used to allow any developer to verify which binary is running within the enclave. To further ensure integrity, Turnkey uses remote attestation, linking source code to the live binary. This provides users with a strong guarantee that their transactions are only handled by trusted, verifiable software.

In addition, every operation is checked against an access policy defined by the key owner. This approach eliminates the risk of internal interference, even from administrators. All actions are logged and available for future auditing. Thanks to this architecture, Turnkey is suitable for both individual developers and enterprises that require institutional-grade protection without having to configure physical infrastructure manually.

Technical Specifications of Turnkey

Turnkey’s technical implementation is built for high performance, stability, and broad blockchain support. The platform already processes millions of transactions and supports over 50 million wallets. Its architecture ensures sub-100ms response times even under peak load. The system is based on an API-first approach, allowing developers to use SDKs in Go, Rust, Python, React, Swift, and other languages. All critical operations are isolated from external access and executed strictly within the enclave. Below are the key specifications of the project:

These specifications make Turnkey not just a tool for individual developers, but a full-fledged foundation for building Web3 platforms at an industrial standard. Thanks to flexible integration and modular SDKs, teams can implement key functionality without delays or heavy infrastructure investment. With multi-chain support and robust scalability, Turnkey is capable of powering both small projects and large-scale decentralized services with millions of users.

Project Outlook and Market

Turnkey is steadily securing its place in the Web3 infrastructure market, showing rapid growth and strong interest from venture capital. In its last two funding rounds, the startup raised over $50 million from top-tier firms like Sequoia Capital, Bain Capital Crypto, and Lightspeed. This reflects a high level of confidence in the project’s potential. Turnkey is being integrated into the products of major players in the Web3 ecosystem—among its clients are Alchemy, Polymarket, Magic Eden, Moonshot, and several emerging startups in the DeFi and GameFi sectors. Companies choose Turnkey for its blend of security, flexibility, and scalability.

Key factors driving Turnkey’s growth potential:

1. Emphasis on verifiable execution and trust minimization;
2. Support for multi-blockchain infrastructure (Ethereum, Solana, L2);
3. Ease of integration via REST APIs and SDKs;
4. Expansion of functionality for AI agents, DAOs, DeFi, and on-chain commerce.

The global blockchain infrastructure market is growing rapidly: analysts project an increase from $27 billion in 2025 to over $220 billion by 2034. In this context, Turnkey occupies a unique position—it doesn’t compete directly with custodial services but instead provides developers with tools to create autonomous, verifiable, and secure key management logic. One of its future development goals is to open-source more of its code and launch a decentralized enclave network, reducing reliance on centralized trust.

Conclusion

Turnkey is not just a wallet-building tool, but a complete technological platform rethinking how security and key management are handled in Web3. Leveraging TEE and the principle of verifiable execution, the project equips developers with powerful tools to build trustworthy cryptographic infrastructure. Its architecture—focused on minimal trust, flexible access policies, and scalability—meets the demands of both startups and large-scale enterprises. Thanks to its openness, fast integration, and proven reliability, Turnkey has the potential to become a standard for the next generation of decentralized applications.