Bitget has launched the Open Custody Network, allowing users to trade on its platform while keeping assets with external custodians.
According to the announcement, the network connects banks and institutional-grade custodians with the exchange’s trading infrastructure and is available to all eligible users. It is also designed to let users access Bitget’s markets without moving the underlying assets into exchange custody.
Separating custody from execution
The launch targets a structural feature of the centralised cryptocurrency exchange model, in which custody and trading are concentrated within a single platform. Under this arrangement, users typically transfer their assets to an exchange to use its trading capabilities, so the same venue both holds client assets and executes their trades.
In addition, users will have the possibility to keep their assets with participating external providers, including banks and institutional-grade custodians, while accessing trading on Bitget. According to the company, the network combines custody independence, bank-level and institutional-grade security, integrated exchange trading, capital efficiency, and connected liquidity in a single framework.
OCN links independent custody with Bitget’s spot, margin, and futures markets through asset mirroring. This mechanism allows eligible users to trade on the exchange while their assets remain with the provider they have selected. As a result, users can access exchange liquidity and trading products without the assets being held directly by Bitget.
The model gives users more flexibility in where their assets are held. It also allows externally held assets to be deployed across a range of trading strategies on the exchange.
Relevance for institutional participants
Bitget positions the network as particularly relevant to market makers, asset managers, and other institutions. For these participants, OCN is presented as a practical way to manage custody concentration risk, meaning the exposure created when assets are held at the same venue where they are traded, while still putting externally held assets to work.
The company also states that the initiative aims to give traders a more integrated experience, lower barriers to entry, and provide more equitable access to financial services.
Gracy Chen, CEO of Bitget, said the launch challenges the assumption that users must place their assets in an exchange’s custody to access its trading capabilities. Bitget has summarised its proposition as ‘Assets in Bank, Tradings on Bitget’, placing custody choice at the centre of its approach. According to her, the network lets users access the exchange’s liquidity and capital efficiency with lower barriers and without compromising on custody arrangements.
Implications for the exchange model
OCN separates the custodian’s role from the execution venue’s role. Under this model, assets stay with a bank or institutional custodian, and the exchange provides access to trading. At the same time, Bitget frames the move as a response to the concentration of custody and execution that has characterised centralised exchanges. The network’s scope covers spot, margin, and futures trading, so it applies to both leveraged and non-leveraged activity on the platform.
