Crypto custody firm Copper on Thursday launched a new settlement network for institutional clients involved in trading and holding digital assets.

Called the Copper Network, the platform is custodian-agnostic, scalable, and private, and one that the crypto custody firm said is "an industry first."

The digital assets firm added that the new network will give a growing number of institutional clients the ability to settle their OTC trades with all their counterparties, regardless of where they custody their assets.

A gateway for institutional finance

Copper Founder and CEO Dmitry Tokarev said the new platform will allow the firm to continue its ambition to become the primary gateway to digital assets for institutional investors.

"We’ve developed the ecosystem's first custodian agnostic settlement network providing market participants with the much-needed secure, efficient settlement rails required to continue scaling their businesses," Tokarev told The Block.

Copper explained the benefits of the new network, stating that it will unify post-trade communications and workflows into a single settlement solution. This is an upgrade to the basic transfer networks currently utilized by most market participants.

"The Copper Network, due to it being custodian agnostic, affords us the ability to securely and efficiently settle with our entire client base via a single settlement network which will prove transformative as our OTC business continues to grow throughout 2024," Portofino Global Head of Business Development Shane O’Callaghan said.

The news comes after Copper announced the launch of a digital assets brokerage platform for institutional trading in the United Arab Emirates in November.