Institutional Custody Consolidates Around Three Providers

Institutional digital asset custody has consolidated sharply, with three providers now holding the large majority of qualified custody mandates.

Concentration of this degree in a settlement-critical function would attract supervisory attention in conventional markets. In digital assets the custody layer remains lightly regulated in most jurisdictions.

Allocators have begun asking for multi-custodian arrangements as a condition of mandate, which may prove the more effective constraint.