Digital Asset Custody 2026

Digital asset custody is and is not like traditional custody: Can customers have both safety and revenue?

2 December 2026

1 Day Event: 09.00 to 20.30 London Time

The Aon Centre, The Leadenhall Building, 122 Leadenhall Street, London EC3V 4AN

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About the Event

Early investors in digital assets rediscovered the value of independent custody the hard way. So appreciation of the value of traditional custody techniques such as asset segregation are predictable, and symptomatic of a growing convergence between the old and the new in digital asset custody. Meanwhile, Stablecoins and tokenised money market funds have emerged as the principal linkages between DeFi and TradFi, posing questions about conventional aspects of custody such as sourcing the cash leg of delivery versus payment and mobilisation of cash collateral. But customers of digital asset custodians now also expect their providers to generate returns, through staking and lending. This is not only obliging providers to offer access to the unfamiliar universe of DeFi apps, but confronting custodians with the uncomfortable prospect of sharing more of the returns on assets in custody with their owners. That development is bound to discomfit an industry which has long enjoyed the largest share of the returns on lending assets in custody, depositing cash awaiting investment and settling cross-currency transactions. It is a problem regulators must ponder too.

Order of the Day

08.30 to 09.45: Registration Opens with Coffee and Biscuits

09.45 to 09.55: Welcome Address: Future of Finance and Gold Sponsor

09.55 to 10.00: Welcome Address: Host

10.00 to 10.30: Keynote Address by Barnaby Nelson, Chief Executive Officer of The ValueExchange

10.30 to 11.30: Panel 1 - Are digital asset custodians becoming digital asset managers?

11.30 to 12.30: Panel 2 - What do Stablecoins mean for custody and settlement?

12.30 to 14.00: Lunch and Networking

14.00 to 15.00: Panel 3 - Is off-exchange settlement and custody a work-around or a solution?

15.00 to 16.00: Panel 4 - Are regulators enhancing or damaging digital asset safety?

16.00 to 16.30: Coffee Break and Networking

16.30 to 17.30: Panel 5 - Are cryptocurrency custody and traditional custody converging or diverging?

17.30 to 20.30: Networking Drinks and Canapés

Audience

Global custodian and sub-custodian banks, digital asset custodians, asset managers and owners, brokers, CSDs and CCPs, fund administrators and distributors, insurers, cryptocurrency exchanges, pension funds, endowments, consultants, regulators, legal professionals, technology providers, family offices and industry groups.

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Chatham House Policy

All panels are held under the Chatham House Rule to encourage open and candid discussion. All participants are free to use the information shared, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of speakers or attendees may be revealed.

To maintain this environment, sessions are not officially recorded or filmed, and no official event recordings are provided. Following each event, we will share key takeaways on our website and social media.

Panels & Key Discussion Topics

Keynote Address by Barnaby Nelson, Chief Executive Officer of The ValueExchange

Barnaby Nelson

The ValueExchange

10.00 to 10.30

as Moderator

Are digital asset custodians becoming digital asset managers?

Stephanie Peritore

Fidelity Digital Assets

Martin Kreitmair

Tangany GmbH

Waqar Chaudry

Standard Chartered

1. How novel is the idea that custodians can help investors generate income from assets in custody? 2. How do digital asset custodians mitigate the costs and risks of staking cryptocurrencies? 3. What is off-exchange settlement and custody and how does it work? 4. To what extent are digital asset custodians helping clients realise the economic value of their rights in protocol governance? 5. How broad is the coverage of Proof of Stake (PoS) protocols by digital asset custodians? 6. How can custodians mitigate risk when client assets are being deployed on Decentralised Finance (DeFi) lending platforms? 7. How wide is the gap between theory and practice in tokenised collateral and liquidity management ? 8. To what extent are digital asset custodians helping clients that hold cryptocurrencies maxmise returns?

PANEL 1

10.30 to 11.30

Dominic Hobson

as Moderator

What do Stablecoins mean for custody and settlement?

1. To what exent are Stablecoins being used to settle the cash leg of security token transactions? 2. Has the commitment of the European Central Bank (ECB) to a euro central bank digital currency (CBDC) cast a blight on other forms of euro-denominated digital money? 3. To what extent is Proof of Reserve data supplied by custodian banks for attestation reports being automated (by APIs)? 4. What do custodians need to do - including in terms of internal organisation - to help corporate treasurers capitalise on tokenised forms of money? 5. Custodians can issue, safekeep and distribute Stablecoins. Will they also programme them? 6. Are Stablecoins interoperable enough between blockchains? 7. Does the need to back Stablecoins with short term government debt place a ceiling on the ability of Stablecoins to grow in line with rising levels of transactional actvity in token markets? 8. Would custodian banks be more comfortable or less comfortable with deposit tokens rather than Stablecoins? 9. Is the fact that Stablecoins are widely used by speculators in the cryptocurrency markets positive or negative for institutional custody providers?

PANEL 2

11.30 to 12.30

as Moderator

How is the post-trade infrastructure used by custodians changing?

1. The existing infrastructure of exchanges, central counterparty clearing houses (CCPs) and central securities depositories (CSDs) has survived 16 years of blockchain. Has it deserved to? 2. Do domestic CSDs need to embrace tokenisation or can they ignore it? 3. Custodians have proved crucial to institutional engagement with digital assets. Could they evolve into a new form of financial market infrastructure for digital assets that supplants exchanges, CCPs and CSDs? 4. Is the proliferation of blockchain protocols a case of market failure requiring regulatory intervention? 5. In the future, will settlement at different speeds command different prices? 6. Is the slow progress in tokenising privately managed assets a problem of distribution rather than infrastructure? 7. What obstacles (e.g., systems upgrades, 24/7 trading) do digital asset custodians face in turning the SEC No Action letter to the DTCC of December 2025 into meaningful change in securities markets? 8. Do financial market infrastructures, custodian banks and securities markets regulators need to collaborate to enable digital asset markets to scale? 9. Are there any good arguments against public blockchains?

PANEL 3

14.00 to 15.00

as Moderator

Are regulators enhancing or damaging digital asset safety?

1. Is the regulatory treatment of staking services advantageous for custodians? 2. Have BCBS capital requirements constrained the growth of the security token markets? 3. Why hasn't regulatory clarity encouraged more banks to issue Stablecoins? 4. How helpful is the ECB decision to accept tokenised forms of collateral? 5. What explains the reluctance of governments to issue bonds in tokenised form? 6. How is the notion of a "qualified" custodian changing? 7. Why do digital asset firms find it hard to open bank accounts? 8. Is cryptocurrency tax reporting via CARF positive or negative for digital asset markets? 9. Why are custodian banks not more enthusiastic about digital identities?

PANEL 4

15.00 to 16.00

as Moderator

Are cryptocurrency custody and traditional custody converging or diverging?

Benoit Boudier

DFNS

1. Is it reasonable for a regulated bank to claim to be offering an integrated TradFi/DeFi custody service when safekeeping Bitcoin and Ether only? 2. Is the appointment by single investors of multiple digital asset custodians a sign of maturity or immaturity in digital asset custody? 3. To what extent is the bundling of pre-trade, trade and post-trade functions characteristic of cryptocurrency markets being unbundled in security token markets? 4. Are digital asset custodians buying or building service capabilities in-house hampering the growth of the digital asset markets? 5. What is the role of the digital asset custodian in financial markets operated by AI? 6. Is there a future role for digital asset custodians in providing custody of the data and data models behind AI? 7. Is fear of disruption among incumbent custodians accelerating convergence or slowing it down? 8. How do the custody arrangements for stock tokens and stock tracker certificates compare with best practice in traditional custody? 9. If traditional securities and digital asset markets are to converge on a single model of 24/7/365 trading, what needs to change?

PANEL 5

16.30 to 17.30

as Moderator

Moments from Our Latest Event in the Series

On 3 December 2025, Future of Finance hosted Digital Asset Custody 2025 at the Aon Centre in London. The full-day event brought together leaders from finance, regulation and technology to examine how custodians are shaping the next phase of the token economy. Discussions explored the evolving role of custodians in asset security, trading enablement, digital identity, and global regulatory divergence, as well as the industry’s trajectory towards consolidation or convergence as institutions prepare for a fully tokenised future.

See the Highlights & Event Details