Anchorage Digital — America's Only Federally Chartered Crypto Bank
Anchorage Digital Bank received the only federal OCC national bank charter for a crypto institution in January 2021, holding $50B+ in custody for institutional clients including banks, hedge funds, and sovereign wealth funds.
BitGo — The Qualified Custodian for Digital Assets
BitGo is the oldest dedicated crypto custodian, holding $64B+ in assets for 1,500+ institutional clients, and processes over 20% of global Bitcoin transaction volume through client wallets.
BNY Mellon Digital Assets — The World's Largest Custodian Goes On-Chain
BNY Mellon, custodian of $46.7T in assets, became the first US bank approved by both the SEC and NY DFS to hold Bitcoin and Ethereum for institutional clients in October 2022.
Qualified Custodian
A Qualified Custodian is an institution legally authorized to hold client assets on behalf of SEC-registered investment advisers — a requirement that historically excluded most crypto-native firms but is expanding to include digital asset custodians following SAB 121's reversal and OCC charter approvals.
Qualified Custodian Requirements for Tokenized Assets: What Investment Advisers Need to Know
SEC-registered investment advisers must maintain client assets with a 'Qualified Custodian' under Rule 206(4)-2. The 2023 Custody Rule amendments proposed to extend this requirement to crypto assets. This analysis maps the qualified custodian landscape for tokenized assets.