How Does BPX Safeguard Custody and Client Money for Digital Assets?

BPX keeps custody and client money separate by design. Digital assets, tokenised securities and traditional securities held through our platform sit within our regulated custody service, administered as part of the full securities lifecycle. Any cash you haven't yet deployed sits in a segregated client money account at Barclays Bank UK Plc, protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £85,000 per financial institution.

Key Takeaways

• Custody + client money at BPX covers safekeeping, administration and management of both digital assets and client cash within one regulated framework.
• Uninvested funds sit in a segregated client money account at Barclays Bank UK Plc, protected by the FSCS up to £85,000 per financial institution.
• Custody connects directly to fund structuring, digital issuance, primary and secondary market trading, and repo lending, all within a single venue.
• BPX holds FCA authorisation to operate a Multilateral Trading Facility, FCA authorisation as an Alternative Investment Fund Manager, and FCA registration as a cryptoasset firm.

What Does Custody + Client Money Actually Cover at BPX?

Our custody + client money service provides secure safekeeping, administration and management of digital assets and client money, and it sits inside the same integrated infrastructure as fund structuring, issuance and trading, rather than bolted onto a separate system after the fact. That matters for an institution moving between primary issuance, secondary trading and repo, because the asset never has to leave a regulated environment to change hands or generate liquidity.

We built BPX around the idea that access, liquidity and regulatory assurance need to sit in one place, not scattered across custodians, exchanges and administrators who each hold a piece of the lifecycle. A pension fund allocator structuring a private credit vehicle, for example, can move from fund structuring through issuance, admission and custody without switching providers at each stage. That single connection is what our services page sets out across fund management, securities markets, custody, and traditional and digital markets.

Where Does My Uninvested Cash Sit While It Isn't Invested?

Uninvested funds in your investor account wallet sit in a segregated client money account at Barclays Bank UK Plc, held apart from BPX's own balance sheet. That segregated cash is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to a personal limit of £85,000 per financial institution.

Segregation is the operative word here. Client money is never mixed with BPX's own working capital, and it stays identifiable and recoverable as client money in the event of a firm-level problem. Full detail on how this applies, along with the wider risk factors relevant to trading and custody on our marketplace, sits in our risk warning, which we'd encourage any prospective member to read before allocating capital.

How Custody Fits Into the Wider Securities Lifecycle

Custody is rarely the interesting part of a securities transaction, until something goes wrong at the handoff between issuance, trading and settlement. We designed BPX so custody sits inside the same lifecycle as the rest of the transaction, not at the end of it.

An issuer bringing a real estate fund to market, as an example, moves through structuring, digital issuance and primary market admission, then relies on custody to hold both the tokenised units and any uncommitted cash while investors trade on the secondary market. Because all of it runs through one venue, there's no reconciliation gap between where the asset was issued and where it's now held.

Which FCA Authorisations Back BPX's Custody Arrangements?

BPX is UK FCA-authorised to operate a Multilateral Trading Facility, UK FCA-authorised to operate as an Alternative Investment Fund Manager, and registered by the UK FCA as a cryptoasset firm. These three authorisations together cover the trading, fund management and digital asset activity that sit around our custody service.

We were also approved into Gate 1 of the UK Digital Securities Sandbox, becoming the first hybrid trading venue accepted into the Bank of England and FCA's Digital Securities Sandbox. Alongside that, BPX is a member of the UK Digital Asset Taskforce, the FIX Trading Community, and the UK's T+1 Accelerated Settlement Taskforce, which puts us inside the working groups actively shaping how digital and traditional securities infrastructure develops in the UK. Full detail on our authorisations and how the business is structured sits on our About BPX page.

Why Segregation Between Custody and Client Money Matters

Keeping client assets and client cash apart from a firm's own operating funds is a basic principle of custody, and it's one reason institutions ask about it before allocating anything. If assets or cash sit on a firm's own balance sheet rather than in a segregated arrangement, a problem at the firm level can drag client holdings into it.

That's the structural reason we hold uninvested cash in a segregated account at Barclays rather than folding it into our own operating accounts, and why custody of digital assets and securities runs as its own service line rather than as an afterthought of the trading desk. For an institution moving repeatedly between primary issuance, secondary trading and repo through our trading services, that separation is what makes repeated participation practical rather than something to re-underwrite every time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What types of assets does BPX's custody service cover?

Our custody + client money service covers digital assets, tokenised securities and traditional securities, spanning the alternative asset classes we support, including private credit, real estate-backed structures and digitally native money market funds. Custody runs alongside client money safekeeping within the same regulated framework, rather than as a separate arrangement per asset type.

Does BPX invest my uninvested cash while it sits in my account?

No. Uninvested funds in your investor account wallet are held in a segregated client money account at Barclays Bank UK Plc, kept apart from BPX's own operating funds and protected by the FSCS up to £85,000 per financial institution. The cash sits there until you direct it toward a trade, allocation or lending transaction.

Do I need to be a BPX member to use the custody and client money service?

Custody and client money handling operate as part of the integrated service we provide to participants on our marketplace, so access runs through BPX membership. Membership is what opens access to admission, trading, custody and lending across the platform, rather than custody being offered as a standalone product outside that structure.

How does custody interact with repo lending on BPX?

Assets held in custody, including eligible investment funds and real-world assets, are the same holdings that can be pledged as collateral through our repo lending service to access short-term liquidity. Custody and lending run on the same infrastructure, so pledging collateral doesn't require moving assets to a separate lending venue or custodian.

If you're weighing up how custody, client money segregation and repo lending would work for a specific fund or asset you're structuring or holding, send the details through the enquiry form below this article and our institutional markets team will talk you through how it maps onto BPX's infrastructure.