Who Copper is
Copper is a digital asset infrastructure company founded in London in 2018. It offers custody built on multi-party computation (MPC), trading, financing and staking, and the ClearLoop network, where institutions pledge and move assets as collateral with connected counterparties while the assets stay in custody.
Its clients are institutions only: hedge funds, trading firms, exchanges, foundations and venture funds. Copper Markets (Switzerland) AG is registered as a financial intermediary with the VQF, a self-regulatory organisation authorised by FINMA, and Copper Markets (US) Inc. is an SEC-registered broker-dealer and FINRA member. Custody joined to settlement with exchanges is why Copper is one of the custody providers our module connects to.
What it does in your platform
Custody & wallets
Holds your platform's assets in Copper's MPC custody and provides the deposit addresses your customers send to, created as deposit targets per currency and chain. Withdrawals reach Copper as orders only after the module's limits, screening and approvals, and are signed inside Copper.
How the connection works
One connector in the Custody & wallets module talks to Copper's API. Each request carries an API key and an HMAC signature made with its secret, both kept in your platform's secrets, and Copper signs its webhooks the same way.
A deposit target
The module creates a deposit target in Copper for the currency and chain, and your app shows its address to the customer.
Copper reports the deposit
Copper opens a deposit order and sends a signed webhook when it is created, and another when it completes.
Screened and credited
The module checks the signature, screens the transfer and credits the customer, and the movement appears in the backoffice.
A withdrawal order
After your limits, screening and approvals, the module creates a withdrawal order in Copper.
Approved and signed in Copper
Copper's own approval and signing steps run on the order, and a webhook reports the moment the transaction is sent to the chain.
Completed and reconciled
A last webhook marks the withdrawal completed or failed, and the module reconciles it with the chain.
Next to other providers
Copper is one of several ways the module can hold keys, next to the other custody providers in its group and your own MPC or HSM setup. Limits, screening, approvals and reconciliation stay in the module whichever provider signs, so your operations team works the same way every day.
ClearLoop is a Copper service your treasury team uses with Copper directly, for settlement and collateral with the exchanges connected to it. Leaving Copper later means moving the funds and issuing new deposit addresses, while your apps and your records stay as they are.
When Copper fits best
A strong fit when
- You trade on exchanges and want to settle or post collateral without taking assets out of custody.
- You want custody, trading and settlement for your treasury from one institutional provider.
- You want a custodian with registered entities in Switzerland and the US.
Also worth a look
- Another custody provider from the same group, such as Fireblocks or BitGo, if your counterparties already work with one.
- Your own MPC cluster or HSMs, when the keys must stay in your infrastructure.
How we get you live
The contract
We help you get your Copper account and contract in place, with the Copper entity and the portfolios that fit your business.
Portfolios and approvals
We set up your portfolios and wallets with you, and how withdrawal orders are approved inside Copper next to the module's own approvals.
The keys
API keys go into your platform's secrets, each with only the permissions its job needs, such as withdraw-only, and every webhook is checked against its signature.
A full test run
The whole flow runs in Copper's testnet environment, from a deposit order to a completed withdrawal, before real funds move.
