Cantor Fitzgerald’s Bitcoin Business to Use Anchorage Digital and Copper

Cantor Fitzgerald plans to use crypto platforms Anchorage Digital and Copper as part of its Bitcoin financing business, the asset manager said on Tuesday.

The firms will be tasked with helping safeguard client’s digital assets as collateral managers and custodians, Cantor Fitzgerald said in a press release.

Anchorage Digital and Copper offer “industry-leading security solutions,” Cantor Fitzgerald’s Head of Bitcoin Financing Michael Cunningham said in a statement, adding that the firm’s new service is expected to debut “with $2 billion in initial financing.”

Cantor Fitzgerald unveiled its Bitcoin financing business in July, months before the firm’s co-founder and former CEO, Howard Lutnick, was tapped to lead the U.S. Department of Commerce by President Donald Trump. 

The firm’s new business aims to provide leverage to investors who own Bitcoin. In November, the company was reportedly in discussions with Tether, exploring how the stablecoin issuer and Cantor Fitzgerald client could be supportive.

Using Bitcoin as a form of collateral for loans has been a common practice in decentralized finance, or DeFi, for years. Following a string of high-profile business collapses in 2022, however, leading crypto firms ratcheted back their associated services.

The crypto exchange Coinbase stopped issuing loans collateralized by Bitcoin in 2023, weeks after it faced an enforcement threat from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In January, following Trump’s reelection, the exchange began rolling out the service again in the U.S.

In putting a Wall Street twist on one of DeFi’s most common services, Cantor Fitzgerald has chosen two partners that are plugged into the institutional crypto scene.

Copper, a London-based firm that provides custody and settlement solutions to institutional investors, was founded in 2018. The company’s platform allows customers to stake digital assets, trade on exchanges, and explore decentralized finance, or DeFi, strategies.

Anchorage Digital, which also caters to institutions, specializes in crypto trading. In 2021, the firm received a federal charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, enabling banks to use Anchorage Digital’s platform to provide services to customers.

The New York Department of Financial Services gave Anchorage Digital a green light to work with firms like Cantor Fitzgerald in December. The NYDFS granted Anchorage Digital a so-called BitLicense, permitting the firm to service those in the world’s financial capital.

Edited by James Rubin