For years, cryptocurrencies have been driven mostly by speculation. That phase is fading. What it replaces is slower, more practical work: rebuilding parts of the financial system using blockchain technology.
For banks and institutions, the focus has changed. Custody is no longer limited to just preserving assets. It’s about connecting these assets to the rest of the financial system in a fast, compatible and usable way.
Signum Bank Sitting in the middle of this transformation. That’s why it was nominated for the Best Digital Asset Custodial Provider award BeInCrypto 100 Enterprise Awards 2026.
Nursery is no longer just storage
Sygnum Bank has gone beyond the basic custody model. Instead of treating custody as a vault, it treats it as part of a broader financial service.
In a recent discussion with BeInCrypto’s Global Head of News, Brian McGlennon, Fabian Dore, IT Director at Sygnum, explained this shift. He said security was no longer the main problem.
“The key aspect of providing a secure custody solution was one of the first challenges. At this point, the problem has been largely solved at the institutional level. The real challenge now is integration – linking custody with value-added services.”
This point comes up in how Sygnum works.
BeInCrypto has reviewed its regulatory status, partnerships, and product activity via filings and public disclosures.
Founded in 2017, Sygnum now has over $5 billion in client assets, over $1 billion in assets under custody, and more than 2,000 clients across four jurisdictions.
| Founded | 2017 |
| The client’s total assets | $5 billion+ |
| Assets under custody (AUC) | $1 billion+ |
| Customers | 2000+ |
| jurisdictions | 4 |
| evaluation | $1 billion+ |
And it became The first digital asset bank Obtained a full banking and securities trading license from FINMA in 2019. Today, it operates within regulatory frameworks in Switzerland, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Luxembourg.
Its OTC custody platform’s assets exceeded $1 billion in March 2026, with 900% year-on-year growth. Market maker Wintermute is one of its clients.
The bank has also pushed towards settlement and tokenization.
In December 2025, Sygnum became the first European digital asset bank to work with BNY Mellon on US dollar settlement.
Through it Designed platformIt tokenizes real-world assets across multiple networks. This includes shares in Hamilton Lane’s $4.9 billion private equity fund on Polygon, and Fidelity International’s liquidity fund on zkSync Era.
It also supported private debt tokenization with Float and Fasanara Capital.
On the investment side, the BTC Alpha Fund has raised over 750 BTC within four months and has achieved annual returns of around 15% since its launch.
Online trading activity The platform grew by more than 1,000% in 2024driven in part by its infrastructure that supports more than 20 partner banks.
Make digital assets actually usable
Customer behavior is also changing. Institutional clients are no longer satisfied with passively holding assets, Dore said. They want to use it.
The Sygnum model is built around this transformation. Clients can access custody, lending strategies and returns through a single interface, without moving assets across multiple platforms. The goal is to keep everything within a regulated environment while allowing capital to be deployed.
Another issue the bank is trying to address is fragmentation.
Blockchains are still isolated. Different networks, standards and systems create friction. Dorey’s point is that clients should not deal with this complexity head-on.
“What we aim to provide is unified access. Behind the scenes, we use different systems and tools to handle fragmentation.”
This approach is important as coding grows.
It is estimated that the market could be worth tens of trillions of dollars by 2030. If that happens, the challenge will not be to build new chains. They will be made to work together in a way that organizations can actually use.
Sygnum’s strategy is straightforward. Hide complexity. Keep compliance tight. Make digital assets usable within the existing financial system.
The technology is already here. The real work now is to connect it.
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