Sygnum Expands its Off-Exchange Custody Platform to Include Deribit, World’s Largest Crypto Derivatives Exchange

  • Sygnum Bank adds leading crypto derivatives exchange Deribit compatibility to
    Sygnum Protect, its off-exchange custody platform featuring bank-grade security
  • Institutional traders will now have access to Deribit’s deep liquidity while keeping
    assets off-balance sheet and secure in Sygnum’s regulated custody solution
  • Mitigates traders’ counterparty risks towards exchanges, and provides additional
    protection against increasingly sophisticated cyber security attacks
  • Platform expansion leverages Fireblocks’ Off-Exchange for automated settlement
    and collateral management with leading crypto exchanges

Zurich, March 5, 2025 — Sygnum, a global digital asset banking group, announces the expansion of Sygnum Protect, its off-exchange custody platform, to include Deribit, the world’s largest crypto derivatives exchange. This integration enables traders to hold their assets in a regulated bank with institutional-grade security, while conveniently accessing the world’s largest crypto derivatives exchange’s deep liquidity.

Sygnum was the first bank to launch off-exchange custody services for institutional traders with Sygnum Protect in early 2024. Sygnum Protect’s integration with Deribit now leverages Fireblocks’ innovative Off Exchange solution, enabling traders to mirror assets held in Sygnum’s custody to Deribit while accessing its broad instrument universe.

Sygnum Protect avoids the need to pre-fund trading venues by fully segregating trading and custody and also safeguards against defaults by exchanges. Sygnum’s bank-grade security and ability to hold client assets off-balance sheet mitigates counterparty risk and enables traders to fully focus on their investment decisions.

“Counterparty risk awareness in crypto comes in cycles, and the recent major cyber-attack has triggered one of the largest waves of exchange derisking since FTX. It is yet another reminder that separating crypto custody from exchange trading is essential for security,” says Dominic Lohberger, Sygnum Chief Product Officer. “Sygnum Protect is also an essential building block for strengthening the resilience of the crypto industry.”

The need for counterparty risk mitigation and additional layers of security has become increasingly crucial in the institutional crypto trading space where trading venues also act as custodians. To counter the threat from increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks, close industry collaborations such as those between Sygnum, Deribit and Fireblocks that centre on robust security are fast becoming mission critical.

“We are very pleased to offer additional security and transparency capabilities to our institutional clients looking to trade crypto derivatives through Sygnum Protect,” says Luuk Strijers, CEO of Deribit. “This integration provides institutional traders with both the capabilities and security assurances they require to trade any of Deribit’s leading products comfortably.”

Fireblocks Off Exchange enables trading firms to maintain control over their assets while traders execute instant spot, margin and derivatives trades. Firms programmatically lock assets in wallets they control, mirroring collateral to the exchange without ever giving up custody of their own digital assets. The assets remain securely segregated in shared MPC wallets, and on-chain settlement is utilised to ensure that funds are safe from hacks, bankruptcy or fraud.

“This integration with Sygnum Protect and Deribit demonstrates the power of Fireblocks Off Exchange,” says Michael Shaulov, CEO of Fireblocks. “Exchanges and custodians can now leverage our standardised integration without requiring custom development — accelerating institutional adoption so assets can be securely held via regulated bank custody.”

Since Sygnum became the world’s first bank to launch its Sygnum Protect off-exchange custody services for institutional traders, it has attracted strong demand. Sygnum Protect enables flexible collateral options[i], including fiat, crypto, and traditional securities, with assets held off-balance sheet in bankruptcy-remote custody with Sygnum Bank.

[i] Digital asset collateral types include BTC, ETH, stETH, SOL, USDC, USDT, MATIC, XRP, PAXG. Forward roadmap also includes a range of Tokenized Money Market Funds (TMMFs).

Media Contact:
Dominic Castley, Chief Marketing Officer
[email protected]

Sygnum Bank AG,
Uetlibergstrasse 134a,
8045 Zurich, Switzerland

About Sygnum
Sygnum is a global digital asset banking group, founded on Swiss and Singapore heritage. We empower professional and institutional investors, banks, corporates and DLT foundations to invest in digital assets with complete trust. Our team enables this through our institutional-grade security, expert personal service and portfolio of regulated digital asset banking, asset management, tokenization and B2B services.
In Switzerland, Sygnum holds a banking license and has CMS and Major Payment Institution licences in Singapore. The group is also regulated in the established global financial hubs of Abu Dhabi and Luxembourg and is registered in Liechtenstein.

We believe that the future has heritage. Our crypto-native team of banking, investment and digital asset technology professionals are building a trusted gateway between the traditional and digital asset economies that we call Future Finance. To learn more about how Sygnum’s mission and values are shaping this digital asset ecosystem, please visit sygnum.com and follow us on LinkedIn and X.

About Deribit
Deribit is a centralized, institutional-grade crypto derivatives exchange for options and futures trading based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Deribit’s state-of-the-art infrastructure offers instantaneous price discovery, low latency trading, advanced risk mitigation services, and deep liquidity via its network of top-tier market makers. Led by a team with decades of experience in options trading across all markets, Deribit facilitates a significant majority of all crypto options trading and has robust proof of assets and liabilities procedures to ensure the exchange is held to the highest of standards. Deribit has been consistently acknowledged as a leader in space as one of few exchanges to secure the ISO 27001 certificate and was named Best Exchange for Innovation by Hedgeweek. For more information, please visit: https://www.deribit.com/

About Fireblocks
Fireblocks is the world’s most trusted and proven digital asset infrastructure company, empowering organizations of all sizes to build, run and grow their business on the blockchain. With the industry’s most secure, scalable and comprehensive platform, we streamline custody, tokenization, payment, settlement, and trading operations across the largest ecosystem of exchanges, custodians, banks, payment providers and stablecoin issuers in the world. Over 2,000 organizations – including BNY Mellon, Galaxy, and Revolut – trust Fireblocks to secure more than $7 trillion in digital asset transactions across 100+ blockchains and 300+ million wallets. Learn more at fireblocks.com.

Disclaimer: The information in this publication pertaining to Sygnum Bank AG (“Sygnum”) is for general information purposes only, as per date of publication, and should not be considered exhaustive. Sygnum expressly disclaims all liability that may be based on such information, omissions, or errors thereof. This publication does not consider the financial situation of any natural or legal person, nor does it provide any tax, legal, investment advice, recommendation, offer or invitation by or on behalf of Sygnum to purchase or sell any assets.

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