Everything in this edition circles the same shift: execution is moving toward the firms that already hold the client relationship, whether that sits with a custodian, a payment provider, or a broker, and away from the venues that used to own the trading flow.
In this past month, we set out how crypto custodians can extend into trading without moving client assets with our suite, and released a new guide to launching a crypto OTC desk. We looked at what H1 2026 earnings reveal about crypto's turn from asset class to market infrastructure, and a breakdown of institutional custody models. On the platform, the Smart Order Router gained flexible order sizing and real-time balance verification.
Unlocking OTC trading, inside the custody platform
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Custody clients hold assets they cannot trade without moving them somewhere else. Every transfer out is operational risk for the client and revenue leaving the platform for the custodian. Finery Markets gives custodians white-label trading infrastructure that runs inside the custody environment: clients trade what they already hold, through the custodian's own interface, under the custodian's brand.
Custodians can deliver it as a GUI or integrate it by API, bring existing liquidity provider relationships onto the platform, and build jurisdiction-specific liquidity pools where local rules require them. Our stack provides an aggregated order book with firm quotes, RFQ, quote streams, voice trading, role-based access control, multi-layered risk and spread management, position management, overnight financing, flexible settlement, and reporting across 200+ pairs. All within a full non-custodial architecture, so assets never leave the custodian’s environment.
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The shutdown cycle: what H1 2026 earnings actually show
The IPO wave put crypto firms on a reporting calendar for the first time, and the first clean read is unkind to the retail trading model. Top-20 exchange spot volume fell from $9.35 trillion to $5.79 trillion in H1 2026, down 38% year over year, and more than 100 crypto projects declared bankruptcy or paused operations over the same period.
What grew instead is everything that is not a trading fee. Subscription and services revenue at Coinbase rose from 32% to 48% of net revenue between Q1 2024 and Q2 2026. At Gemini, non-trading revenue went from 32% to 61% between Q1 2025 and Q2 2026, and OTC revenue climbed from 3.0% of exchange revenue to 37.7% in a single year. Finery Markets felt the same pull from the inside, with trading volume up 114% year over year in Q2 2026, to $10.4 billion.
In this new special report, Sergey Klinkov, Managing Director at Finery Markets, works through the disclosures line by line and makes the case that the sector is repositioning from an asset class into market infrastructure.
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A new guide to launching a crypto OTC desk
Demand for OTC execution has moved well past crypto-native trading firms. Brokers, payment providers, banks, fintechs, stablecoin businesses, family offices, and market makers all have clients who need efficient access to crypto liquidity, and a desk is a direct way to serve them and open a new revenue line.
Building one is harder than launching a trading interface. A competitive desk needs liquidity access, pricing logic, execution technology, compliance processes, settlement workflows, custody, reporting, risk controls, and client onboarding, and every layer shapes whether the desk can scale. In our new guide, our team unveils what each one requires, works through the build-versus-buy decision, and covers the operational choices that decide time to market along with the mistakes that show up most often.
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Smart Order Router: flexible sizing and real-time balance checks
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We have upgraded the Smart Order Router to make execution across external exchanges and quote-streaming (QS) providers more flexible and more reliable.
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Base and quote currency sizing: clients can now specify order volume in either base or quote currency across all supported order types. The SOR automatically routes orders along the optimal execution path among venues supporting the selected order type.
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Real-time balance verification: the platform now verifies available exchange balances in real time immediately before order submission. Orders are routed exclusively to venues with sufficient funds, eliminating trade rejections and boosting overall fill rates.
An in-depth look at institutional crypto custody
Custody has moved from back-office function to core market infrastructure. Spot ETFs pulled tens of billions into custody-dependent products, Citi and Standard Chartered began offering institutional custody, and at least fifteen digital asset firms have applied for U.S. national trust bank charters since 2025.
In this latest educational piece, we map how the business actually works: the hot, warm, and cold storage spectrum, where leading custodians keep roughly 90% of assets offline; the role of hardware security modules, multi-party computation, and multi-signature approvals; and the difference between self, hybrid, and full custody. It covers what qualified custodian status requires, how segregation makes client assets bankruptcy-remote, and where insurance stops, with BitGo at up to $250 million of coverage and Coinbase Custody at $320 million.
It closes on the gap the FSB flagged in 2025: safekeeping and execution still do not connect cleanly. Bridging them is a question of trading infrastructure that reaches liquidity without moving assets off the custody platform.
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