Crypto Gloss

Copper.co

Copper.co is a London-based institutional digital asset infrastructure company founded in 2018 by Dmitry Tokarev (CEO), offering custody, prime brokerage, and a proprietary off-exchange settlement layer called ClearLoop. Copper operates primarily in the European and Asian institutional markets and is known for solving the “exchange counterparty risk” problem: enabling hedge funds and asset managers to trade on major exchanges without depositing assets directly onto those exchanges.

Background

Copper was founded in London to serve institutional clients in the UK and Europe who wanted professional-grade crypto custody aligned with FCA-regulated financial services standards. The company filled a gap between U.S.-centric providers (BitGo, Fireblocks, Anchorage) and the specific regulatory and operational needs of European asset managers, family offices, and banks.

ClearLoop: Off-Exchange Settlement

Copper’s key differentiating product is ClearLoop, a network that allows institutions to:

  1. Hold assets in Copper custody (secured)
  2. Allocate trading credit to connected exchanges (Deribit, OKX, Bybit, etc.)
  3. Trade against exchange liquidity without depositing assets on-exchange
  4. Settle net positions periodically rather than per-trade

This model eliminates exchange counterparty risk — the primary institutional concern since the FTX collapse showed that exchange-held assets could disappear. ClearLoop has become a standard for institutional derivatives and spot trading in the post-FTX environment.

Key Products

Product Description
Copper Custody MPC-based cold and warm storage for institutional digital assets
ClearLoop Off-exchange prime brokerage and settlement network
Copper Prime OTC trading, lending, and structured products
Copper API Programmatic access to custody and settlement infrastructure

Regulatory Context

Copper is registered with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as a cryptoasset business and has pursued additional European regulatory licenses. Its London base and compliance posture have made it the preferred custody provider among European institutional allocators and traditional banks entering crypto.

Related Terms

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