Bitget has implemented an integration with Sygnum Bank’s off-exchange custody platform, Protect, enabling institutional clients to trade on Bitget while their collateral is held outside the exchange’s balance sheet in Sygnum’s regulated custody in Switzerland.
Under the arrangement, collateral posted by Bitget’s institutional users is placed in Sygnum’s custody, where it is ring-fenced and treated as bankruptcy-remote under Swiss banking law. The token and cash positions held by Sygnum are mirrored on Bitget so that traders retain access to those balances for both spot and derivatives trading on the exchange.
Sygnum has highlighted the scale this integration brings to its Protect network. With Bitget live on the platform, Sygnum said the exchanges connected to Protect now account for more than half of global spot and derivatives trading volumes. Protect, which launched in April 2024, saw assets rise by more than 900% in 2025 to surpass $1 billion, and the bank describes the platform as the largest bank-operated offering of its kind.
Protect accepts a range of collateral types, including bitcoin, ether, stablecoins and U.S. Treasuries. Sygnum notes that the yield from holding Treasuries is used to help offset the cost of custody, a point the bank positions as a differentiator versus non-bank custody providers.
"Off-exchange custody has become the settlement backbone of institutional digital asset trading," said Thomas Eichenberger, deputy group chief executive of Sygnum Bank.
Gracy Chen, chief executive of Bitget, said that "as the market's largest venues converge on bank-grade custody, this is fast becoming the standard institutions expect."
Bitget serves more than 125 million users across over 150 countries and is cited among the largest venues by derivatives volume. The exchange’s decision to route institutional collateral into a bank-operated custody service illustrates a broader shift: off-exchange custody, once mainly used by the most risk-averse desks, is moving toward mainstream institutional infrastructure for digital asset trading.
Context and implications
The deployment ties together a regulated Swiss custody solution and a large derivatives-focused trading venue, preserving tradability through mirrored balances while removing collateral from the exchange’s own balance sheet. Sygnum’s Protect platform emphasizes accepted collateral diversity and the use of Treasury yields to reduce net custody cost.