OKX has partnered with digital asset storage business Komainu, allowing institutional users to retain their crypto in the hands of the Nomura-backed custodian while trading on the exchange, CoinDesk reported on Tuesday.
It’s a collaboration that highlights how vertically integrated crypto exchanges might begin to resemble traditional finance by isolating operations through third-party custodians in order to avoid another FTX crash.
OKX is the first client to deploy Komainu Connect, a regulated settlement and custody system for institutional clients that provides 24-hour trading via a combination of cold storage, multiparty computation (MPC), and hardware security modules (HSMs).