The Pomp Podcast
Dmitry Tokarev, CEO of Copper: The True Drivers of Crypto’s Buy-Side Infrastructure
- Financial infrastructure in crypto requires professional custody, administration, prime brokerage, and settlement frameworks similar to traditional markets, not just security-focused wallet storage.
- The "Walled Garden" framework solves a critical LP concern: preventing fund managers from withdrawing assets to personal wallets by restricting transfers to predefined execution venues only.
- Legacy banking infrastructure built in the 1970s–90s is costly and inefficient; blockchain can serve as a single source of truth, eliminating redundant database synchronization across multiple institutions.
- Institutional adoption is being driven by large LPs (insurance funds, pension funds, family offices) who demand robust frameworks and minimum ticket sizes (often $10M+), forcing asset managers to professionalize or lose capital.
- Crypto market maturation filtered out "tourists" during the 2018 downturn, leaving serious operators with institutional discipline and proper investment strategies.
- Institutional infrastructure providers (like Copper) are filling the gap left by early crypto custodians who didn't understand business applications of custody beyond security.