Copper has expanded into the United States through Copper Markets (US) Inc., which is now registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as a broker-dealer and is also a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The move gives the digital asset infrastructure provider a regulated route to offer institutional custody and trading-related services in the US.
Copper said its US entity plans to provide qualified custody, staking, financing and over-the-counter services. Institutional clients in the country are also set to gain access to ClearLoop, the company’s collateral management network built around keeping assets in custody rather than moving them onto exchanges before each trade.
A custody-led US entry
Copper framed its US launch around qualified custody, describing the new presence as establishing a domestic foothold in that role. Under US securities rules, broker-dealers that hold customer securities and funds in customer accounts can act as qualified custodians when the relevant regulatory requirements are satisfied.
The new status gives Copper another way to deliver its infrastructure within an established securities framework. It also arrives as US regulators continue to examine how existing broker-dealer requirements should apply as digital assets become more closely tied to securities markets.
In July, the SEC added crypto-related items involving broker-dealers, crypto assets and market structure to its 2026 rulemaking agenda, highlighting that the broader regulatory framework is still under review.
How ClearLoop fits into the model
A central part of the US offering is ClearLoop, a system Copper launched in 2020. It allows institutional traders to delegate crypto and tokenized assets for trading while those assets remain within Copper’s custody framework, with settlement taking place separately after the trades are executed.
Under that model, institutions can pledge collateral between counterparties without relying on the usual process of transferring assets to a trading venue before each transaction. Copper has built much of its institutional business on that separation between custody and trading activity.
The company says the approach is intended to reduce the amount of capital institutions need to keep directly on exchanges, where assets may face exchange-specific counterparty risk.
Infrastructure built through recent partnerships
Copper has spent several years extending ClearLoop across exchanges and institutional trading venues. In February 2025, BitGo and Copper introduced a structure that let institutional clients trade spot and derivatives on Deribit while assets remained away from the exchange in custody. In that arrangement, BitGo Trust served as the qualified custodian and ClearLoop handled automated settlement.
The same network has also been used beyond standard trading. Copper’s agency lending platform, launched in 2025, used ClearLoop to ring-fence loaned assets while offering institutions overcollateralized lending and real-time position monitoring.
Staking is another service Copper plans to bring through its US arm. In March 2025, the company partnered with Figment for institutional staking across networks including Ethereum, Solana and Polkadot. A month later, it expanded that infrastructure through a partnership with P2P.org. Earlier custody integrations with networks such as Mina and Hedera had already combined institutional storage with staking access.
Part of a wider regulated custody push in the US
Copper’s broker-dealer route comes as other digital asset firms pursue regulated custody structures in the United States through trust companies and 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 it would initially provide digital asset custody to the company and its affiliates, with its approved plan also permitting custody for a limited group of institutional clients.
That followed conditional OCC decisions in December 2025 involving Ripple, Paxos, BitGo and Fidelity Digital Assets. Kraken parent Payward also applied in May for a national trust charter for Payward National Trust Company, proposing a federally regulated custody entity for institutional clients that would not take deposits or make conventional loans.
At the SEC level, the regulator has also addressed what kinds of custodians investment advisers may use for crypto. In September 2025, the SEC’s Division of Investment Management issued a no-action letter permitting advisers, under specified conditions, to use certain state-chartered trust companies under federal investment laws. For Copper, the next confirmed step is the rollout of custody-centered services through its newly registered US broker-dealer, supported by personnel that FINRA records show were registered with the firm during 2026.
Source: crypto.news