Copper expands into US with regulated crypto custody and trading services

Digital asset infrastructure provider Copper has established a regulated US presence after Copper Markets (US) Inc. became an SEC-registered broker-dealer and a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, opening a route for the company to provide institutional custody and trading services in the country.
Summary

• Copper Markets (US) has become an SEC registered broker dealer and FINRA member.
• The US arm will offer qualified custody, staking, financing and OTC services to institutional clients.
• Clients will also gain access to Copper's ClearLoop Network for managing crypto and tokenized assets as collateral.
• Copper said the approval establishes its US presence as a qualified custodian.

According to Copper's Wednesday announcement, its US subsidiary has been accepted as a FINRA member, giving the company a regulated entity through which it can bring its custody, collateral and trading infrastructure to institutional clients in the United States.

FINRA records also identify personnel registered with Copper Markets (US), including staff working across finance, compliance, operations and revenue functions. The company said the approval allows its US business to operate as a broker-dealer while building its presence as a qualified custodian for institutional digital assets.

Copper US arm gains regulated broker-dealer status

Copper Markets (US) plans to provide qualified custody alongside staking, financing and over-the-counter services, according to the company. Institutional clients will also gain access to Copper's ClearLoop Network, its infrastructure for managing collateral while assets remain in custody.

Under the model, institutions can pledge crypto and tokenized assets as collateral between counterparties without relying on the conventional process of moving the assets to a trading venue before each transaction. Copper has built much of its institutional business around that separation of custody from trading activity.

The US entity's regulatory status gives Copper another route for offering the infrastructure within an established securities framework. Under US securities rules, broker-dealers that maintain customer securities and funds in customer accounts can serve as qualified custodians when the applicable regulatory requirements are met.

Copper described its entry as establishing a US presence as a "Qualified Custodian," putting custody at the center of the services being introduced through Copper Markets (US).

The registration also arrives while US regulators are reviewing how existing broker-dealer requirements should apply as digital assets become more closely integrated with securities markets. In July, the SEC added crypto-related items covering broker-dealers, crypto assets and market structure to its 2026 rulemaking agenda, as previously covered by crypto.news.
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One of the planned SEC proposals concerns potential changes to broker-dealer financial responsibility rules for crypto activity. Another considers exemptions and safe harbors for certain offers and sales of crypto assets, while a separate proposal addresses trading of crypto assets on alternative trading systems and national securities exchanges.

ClearLoop gives Copper an existing institutional settlement network

ClearLoop forms a major part of the infrastructure Copper is bringing to its US operation. Launched in 2020, the system allows institutional traders to delegate assets for trading while keeping them within Copper's custody framework, with settlement handled separately after trades take place.

The model is designed to limit the amount of capital institutions need to hold directly on exchanges, where assets can be exposed to exchange-specific counterparty risks.

Copper has spent several years connecting ClearLoop with exchanges and other institutional trading providers. In February 2025, BitGo and Copper introduced a trading model that allowed institutional clients to trade spot and derivatives on Deribit while assets remained secured away from the exchange.

Under that arrangement, BitGo Trust provided qualified custody while trades were automatically settled through ClearLoop. The structure allowed clients to use assets held with a custodian for exchange activity without transferring the entire balance to the trading venue.

ClearLoop has also been used for collateral management outside standard spot trading. Copper's agency lending platform, launched in 2025, used the network to ring-fence loaned assets while offering institutions overcollateralized lending and real-time monitoring of their positions.

Earlier integrations had already put the system in use across individual crypto networks. In August 2024, Copper added custody and staking for Mina Protocol, giving eligible institutional clients access to MINA through its infrastructure. The company said at the time that ClearLoop allowed users to manage collateral and settle transactions across connected exchanges without moving assets out of Copper-controlled wallets.

Copper has built out staking alongside custody

Staking is another part of the service package Copper plans to offer through its US operation, extending a business line that the company has developed through several infrastructure partnerships.

In March 2025, Copper partnered with Figment to provide institutional staking across networks including Ethereum, Solana and Polkadot. The integration combined Figment's staking infrastructure with Copper's custody services so institutional clients could stake assets held through the platform.

A month later, Copper expanded its staking infrastructure through a partnership with P2P.org. The companies combined Copper's custody and prime services with P2P.org's staking infrastructure and rebalancing technology for institutional users across multiple blockchain networks.

Those arrangements built on Copper's earlier custody integrations with individual networks, including Hedera and Mina, where staking was offered alongside institutional asset storage.

The US launch now puts those services under a domestic regulated entity, with Copper listing staking alongside custody, financing and OTC services available through Copper Markets (US).

US qualified custody options have continued to expand

Copper's registration comes as several digital asset companies have pursued regulated custody structures in the United States through broker-dealers, state trust companies and federally supervised trust banks.

In July, Circle received final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish Circle National Trust, a federally supervised trust bank. Circle said the institution would initially provide digital asset custody to the company and its affiliates, with its approved business plan also allowing for custody services to a limited group of institutional clients.

The approval followed conditional OCC decisions in December 2025 involving several other digital asset firms, including Ripple, Paxos, BitGo and Fidelity Digital Assets.

Kraken parent Payward took another route in May when it applied to the OCC for a national trust charter for Payward National Trust Company. The proposed entity would provide federally regulated digital asset custody to institutional customers without taking deposits or making conventional loans.

At the SEC level, the regulator has also addressed which entities investment advisers can use for crypto custody. In September 2025, the SEC's Division of Investment Management issued a no-action letter allowing advisers, subject to specified conditions, to use certain state-chartered trust companies as custodians under federal investment laws.

Copper has instead established its latest US foothold through a registered broker-dealer. FINRA records show Copper Markets personnel registered with the firm during 2026, including its head of revenue for the Americas, compliance director and financial and operations personnel.
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