The HBAR Foundation and digital asset custody service provider Copper have announced a collaboration aimed at making the Hedera ecosystem more accessible to institutions.
As part of the partnership, Copper will provide crypto custody support for Hedera (HBAR) and enhance the blockchain network’s decentralized financial capabilities through staking. According to a detailed press release, the collaboration with Copper will also expand institutional access to HBAR and Hedera token services.
Copper customers can hold HBAR as a stake.
Institutional investors can now stake HBAR through their chosen validator, leveraging Copper’s wallet infrastructure for DeFi trading. The partnership also introduces institutional access to HBAR trading via Copper’s multi-exchange settlement solution, ClearLoop.
Copper customers holding funds in the decentralized financial vault will be able to interact with Hedera decentralized exchanges like SaucerSwap Labs to access the utility of HBAR and HTS tokens. This functionality is provided via Copper Connect, which is compatible with Ethereum.
“The integration of Copper now makes it easier and more confident for institutional investors to enter the Hedera ecosystem,” said Shane Higdon, co-founder and CEO of the HBAR Foundation.
Higden added that Hedera will leverage Copper’s technology and security to accelerate Hedera’s growth in the cryptocurrency space.
Commenting on the integration, Copper CEO Dmitry Tokarev said:
“This is a valuable partnership for us, and the integration of the full development stack further demonstrates our shared commitment to providing robust custody solutions to institutional players in the digital asset space.”
The collaboration between HBAR and Copper adds to a number of key developments within the Hedera ecosystem to enhance institutional adoption of proof-of-stake blockchains, including a partnership with FCA-regulated platform Archax to tokenize BlackRock’s money market funds on Hedera.
Archax is also the company that launched tokenized access to abrdn’s currency market fund on both Hedera and Ethereum in 2023.