​Institutional Digital Assets Have Arrived — and Custody Is Leading the Charge

Digital assets have entered their institutional era. Banks, asset managers, and brokers across Hong Kong and Singapore are accelerating plans to launch digital-asset custody, tokenised funds, and virtual-asset ETFs.

But while technology is advancing quickly, the real bottleneck isn’t infrastructure — it’s people.

Institutional custody demands talent that blends crypto-native technical skills with the risk and governance discipline of TradFi. That combination is rare, global, and increasingly competitive.

At Captar Partners, we’re seeing custody go from a niche capability to amission-critical prioritythat requires its own dedicated workforce strategy.

​

1. From Retail Crypto to Institutional Custody: A New Talent Landscape

For years, custody in the digital-asset space was dominated by retail exchanges and consumer wallets.

Now, the entry of regulated institutions has shifted expectations dramatically. Banks and asset managers must build custody functions that match (or exceed) traditional securities standards:

​

• Segregated accounts

• Multi-party computation (MPC)

• On-chain settlement and reconciliation

• Institutional key-management

• 24/7 operational readiness

​

This shift requires people who understand not just blockchain fundamentals but alsoinstitutional-grade controls.

Those profiles don’t exist in large numbers — and every institution is competing for them at once.

​

2. The Roles Powering Institutional Custody

To build custody 2.0, firms need a different mix of talent than retail crypto platforms. The most in-demand positions include:

Custody Operations Analysts

Professionals who manage transfers, reconcile on-chain activity, and monitor client asset flows in real time.

Digital-Asset Risk & Governance Leads

Experts who can design the frameworks regulators expect:

​

• KYC/AML

• Segregation of duties

• Transaction monitoring

• Counterparty and liquidity risk

​

Key-Management Engineers

Specialists in MPC, HSMs, cold/warm storage, and secure wallet architecture.

Digital-Asset Product Owners

People who connect custody infrastructure with client needs — institutional, retail, or ETF-driven.

Security & DevSecOps Engineers

Critical for protecting hot, warm, and cold storage environments from operational threats.

These roles are emerging at speed — but the talent pool is not keeping up.

​

3. Why Demand Is Outpacing Supply

The gap between demand and supply continues to widen because:

​

• Banks are entering the market simultaneously

  — all hiring the same talent at once.

• Traditional finance professionals lack hands-on digital-asset experience, especially in custody.

• Crypto-native specialists prefer fintechs and exchanges, where decision-making is faster and equity upside is clearer.

• Global competition is fierce

  — Dubai, Singapore, and Europe are all aggressively hiring custody talent.

• Regulation increases the need for governance talent, adding pressure on an already thin pool.

​

This isn’t a temporary challenge — custody talent will remain structurally scarce for years.

​

4. The Hiring Challenge for Banks and Asset Managers

Institutions need to balance speed with compliance. But slow hiring cycles, unclear role definitions, and reliance on traditional job descriptions lead to:

​

• Long delays in custody platform launches

• Failed licence applications due to missing “responsible persons”

• Increased operational risk

• Rising salary premiums as firms enter bidding wars

• Loss of talent to faster-moving Web3 firms

​

Put simply:Custody cannot scale without the right people — and the right hiring strategy.

​

5. How Captar Partners Builds Institutional-Grade Custody Teams

Captar Partners supports financial institutions in Hong Kong and Singapore by building custody teams designed for scale, security, and regulatory readiness.

We help clients:

Map global custody talent markets

We identify specialists across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East who fit institutional custody standards.

Attract hybrid professionals

People who blend engineering, cybersecurity, risk, and operations — the profiles banks need the most.

Design hiring plans aligned to custody phases

From MVP to full-scale institutional rollouts.

Advise on compensation

Using data from our digital-asset salary insights to help you compete globally.

Reduce time-to-hire

By pre-qualifying crypto-native candidates with institutional experience.

We don’t just fill roles — we build custody functions banks can trust.

​

Final Thoughts

Digital-asset custody is no longer an optional capability — it's now infrastructure. As more institutions enter the market, the teams that build and run custody platforms will be the real differentiator.

The firms that succeed won’t just have the right technology. They’ll have the right people — engineers, risk leads, ops specialists, and product owners who understand custody at an institutional level.

👉Need to build or scale your custody team? Contact Captar Partners atenquiries@captarpartners.com