Institutional Custody - How to Choose The Best One

Institutional custody is not one standard. Five criteria define the real thing: financial licenses, insurance, segregated accounts, bankruptcy remote structure, and FIPS compliant HSM infrastructure. Fireblocks and Copper use MPC technology on hot wallets which does not meet FIPS requirements for qualified custodians in the US. If a provider is just white-labeling Fireblocks, it is better than an exchange but it does not qualify as institutional custody at that level.