PrivateACB

About PrivateACB

Who

Robert Vassov

Robert Vassov — I'm the creator of PrivateACB and the person behind the support desk. My background is a bit unconventional: I spent a big chunk of my early career as a growth and yield forester. I analyzed a lot of tree measurement data to build yield curves and tree volume tables, using the early spreadsheets of the day (VisiCalc, Lotus 1-2-3, then Excel) to crunch the numbers. That's where my love for tech started, and it never really left.

Eventually, I transitioned into leading an environmental reclamation team at an oil sands mine. It was a role defined by heavy data collection, synthesis and annual reporting to the regulator, where every figure had to be traced back to its source. That lifelong obsession with verifiable data is the foundation of PrivateACB: the program pulls directly from your files, and the report shows where every number came from.

When I'm not coding, I'm usually hiking or swimming. Staying active is how I look after my health.

I also write on Substack ↗, and make a few other things.

Why I built it

I built PrivateACB because I was not comfortable sending my financial history to a server I knew nothing about.

It started as a spreadsheet. That lasted about as long as it took to add a second exchange. Every exchange exported its data differently, and I found myself spending night after night reformatting files, adding staking rewards by hand, and cleaning up dust and transactions I didn't need.

A spreadsheet was simply too static for the job. If I was going to do this properly, I needed a program.

The first version was written in Python. Then came an Electron app that grew to about 70 megabytes. A friend suggested trying another language to make it smaller, which led me to Rust.

So I rewrote the whole thing.

By then, the project had already gone through dozens of versions and several names. The rewrite was a lot of work, but I'm glad I did it. The program you download today is fast, compact, and built around the same idea that started the whole project: your financial history should stay yours.

I started with spreadsheets in September 2024 and began writing the program in January 2025, because I wanted something I could trust with my own records. I'm still building it for the same reason.

Secure and safe

The installer and the program itself are digitally signed (the certificate names Robert Vassov). Windows checks the signature before it runs; if the file has been altered in any way, the signature is invalid and Windows says so. The SHA-256 of every release is published on the download page so you can check the file yourself.

Payments are taken by Stripe. Your card details go to Stripe, not to this site or to me; I receive a license order and nothing else.

This site and the license service run on Cloudflare. The download itself comes from GitHub, where every release is published with its size and hash.

Your database is encrypted and opens only with your password. What the program sends over the network, and to whom, is listed in full on the Security page.

The outside services PrivateACB depends on

One paragraph each. This is the program's own list of where it and this site connect — the same list the Security page prints.

  • Stripe Payments

    Stripe takes the payment when you buy a license. Your card details go to Stripe; this site and I never see them.

  • Cloudflare This site, the license service, the contact form

    The pages you are reading, the download link, license activation and the contact form all run on Cloudflare. No third-party analytics or advertising scripts run on this site.

  • Resend Email

    When you buy a license, or write to me through the contact form, the email goes out through Resend. It carries your address and the license key, or your message. Nothing about your portfolio is in it.

  • GitHub Downloads

    Every release is published on GitHub with its size and SHA-256. The download button sends you there.

  • Azure Artifact Signing Code signing

    The signature on the installer and the program is issued through Azure Artifact Signing, after identity validation.

  • CoinGecko Prices

    The program's first source for daily coin prices, fetched only when you ask it to fill gaps.

  • DefiLlama Prices, older dates

    Where CoinGecko's free history ends, DefiLlama supplies the older daily prices.

  • Binance Prices, fallback

    A fallback for coins the other sources do not carry. Not used for US users.

  • Bank of Canada · FRED Exchange rates

    The Bank of Canada and the US Federal Reserve's FRED supply the daily exchange rates used to convert prices into your reporting currency.