How to build a cryptocurrency trading, investing and custody infrastructure for your clients

3 days ago
4 min read

Updated: 19 hours ago

Growing clarity over the regulatory treatment of cryptocurrencies and digital assets has created an opportunity for regulated financial institutions to provide their clients with access to crypto trading, investment and custody services. The question is: should they build an infrastructure in-house, buy a platform from a vendor or outsource the service to an established provider?

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What is the event about?

Institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies is increasing. Why? In Europe, MiCAR has delivered regulatory certainty. In the United States, the new administration has embraced both cryptocurrencies and Stablecoins - the crucial bridge between the cryptocurrency and money markets - and the courts have authorised spot Bitcoin ETFs, turning cryptocurrencies into a legitimate institutional asset class. In Germany, where early and effective legislative progress in the domestic market is now reinforced by a standardised regulatory framework spanning the whole of the European Union - the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCAR) - both law and regulation facilitate the purchase and sale, trading and safekeeping of cryptocurrencies for both dealing and investment purposes. As a result of these developments, regulated institutions on both sides of the Atlantic are scrambling to build cryptocurrency trading, investing and custody services for their clients. This webinar explores how regulated institutions can offer their clients safe access to cryptocurrency markets in the form of brokerage, trading, settlement and custody services, unlock new business opportunities for their firms and manage the risks of cryptocurrency activities, while remaining fully compliant with their regulatory obligations.

When is it happening?

Wednesday, 27 May 2026 at 14.00 London Time

Who is on the panel?

Stephanie Hurry, Global Head of Business Development & Partnerships at Boerse Stuttgart Digital
Franciso Maroto, Head of Blockchain & Digital Assets at BBVA
Andreas Sack, Head of Digital Assets Infrastructure at DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale

Moderated by Dominic Hobson, Co-founder and Editorial Director at Future of Finance

Why attend?

Legal and regulatory changes mean the cryptocurrency markets are now open to regulated institutions. The cryptocurrency markets offer both institutional and retail investors portfolio diversification and hedging opportunities which they are eager to seize. If they are not to lose clients to competitors, buy and sell-side firms of all shapes and sizes need to develop an infrastructure to support the cryptocurrency activities of their existing client base. They can build it in-house, buy a platform from a vendor or entrust the task to an established provider. This webinar will explain how firms can make an informed and commercially sensible choice, while remaining complaint.

Who should attend?

Cryptocurrencies are now an established market, of potentially enormous disruptive force, that affects every organisation from the C-suite to the back office. Business leaders, risk and compliance functions, technology leads, heads of innovation, product managers and heads of operations can all benefit from the discussion. Management teams at retail banks, private banks, retail brokerage firms, asset managers, wealth managers, hedge funds, proprietary trading firms and family offices, whatever their level of knowledge or expertise, will get enjoyment as well as value from the discussion.

What will be discussed?

The market drivers

What is driving the rising institutional interest in cryptocurrency infrastructure?
Do banks see cryptocurrencies as an integral part of their digital assets strategies?

Making a choice

What is the minimum that regulated institutions need in terms of cryptocurrency infrastructure, i.e., what are the essential products needed by their clients and that they must provide?
Institutions have three choices: (a) building the infrastructure in-house, (b) buying it from a vendor or (c) outsourcing to an established cryptocurrency infrastructure. How should they choose between them?
Are regulated institutions free to make any choice they like, or do regulations limit the choices they can make (e.g., must regulated institutions deal with regulated counterparts only)?
How do cryptocurrency infrastructure needs differ between firms whose underlying clients are retail (B2B2C), institutional (B2B) and in-house (proprietary)?
How difficult is it to integrate a third-party brokerage and custody service into customer systems, staff and processes?
What governs the choice between buying cryptocurrency custody services from the same infrastructure provider that supplies the brokerage service and buying them separately from independent entities?
What are the pros and cons of white-labelling a third-party cryptocurrency infrastructure?
How can institutional firms ensure that the interests of their cryptocurrency infrastructure provider are aligned with their interests?
How important is the price of an outsourced service relative to providing the service in-house?

Making it work

Institutions seek infrastructure that delivers competitive pricing and efficient execution, which implies accessing multiple sources of liquidity, but the cryptocurrency markets are fragmented, and this has to be provided without compromising on the security of custody. How can institutions best manage the complexity?
What is the balance of advantage for institutions between dealing with a single broking counterparty and many broking counterparties (e.g., credit risk, concentration risk, margin call costs, reporting etc.)?
Is meeting best execution obligations feasible if a broker limits the number of exchanges and liquidity providers that are accessed?
What should institutions expect brokers to do to guarantee liquidity – the ability to buy and sell – in all market conditions?
Institutions will be concerned that their underlying clients will be made whole if their assets go missing. What sort of custody arrangements are best designed to deliver that assurance (e.g., direct, sub-custody, third-party independent, self-custody)?
How are customer assets in custody protected from a technical perspective (e.g., hot and cold wallets, MPC, governance, audits, insurance, regulatory oversight etc.)?
Should an infrastructure service incorporate additional cryptocurrency services, such as staking and lending?

Closing question

The cryptocurrency markets are still evolving, and so is the market infrastructure, but it is likely eventually to consolidate. How do you expect trading, inviting and custody to be supported in fully mature cryptocurrency markets?