AYU Partner Spotlight: Dmitry Tokarev of Copper

Dmitry Tokarev is the founder and CEO of Copper, AYU’s latest partner.

Founded in 2018, Copper provides a gateway into the cryptoasset space for institutions by offering custody, prime brokerage, and settlements across 250 digital assets and more than 40 exchanges. It is committed to providing flexible solutions for institutional investors that can adapt to the changing cryptoasset space, while enabling far greater transparency and control for asset managers.

Hi Dmitry, what are you working on today?

A key focus at Copper right now is the integration of ClearLoop – our instant trading settlement infrastructure – with even more leading exchanges.

We launched this tool in May last year to enable hedge funds to trade on multiple exchanges, keep funds secure in custody and then transfer funds between exchanges in a matter of seconds. Needless to say, this has proven to be transformational for those exploiting arbitrage opportunities.

In addition to expanding Copper's footprint in the US and APAC, we’re also having conversations with Tier 1 banks. Since the first quarter of 2021, these entities have started taking a real interest in digital assets. They’re ready to partner with specialist providers in this space, such as Copper, that provide the secure rails for trading, settlement, and clearing, to help the speed to market.

How did you get to where you are now?

I originally hail from Siberia and first came to London in 2008 to study Banking and International Finance at Cass Business School, followed by Risk Management and Financial Engineering at Imperial College. After completing my studies, I gained experience in capital markets technology and hedge funds. It was in 2017, while I was looking to set-up investment vehicles for Bitcoin that I identified the gap in the market that Copper now fills.

What attracted you to this business?

I realise that custody technology might not sound like the sexiest topic for those on the outside looking in, but it is the foundation for all things crypto.

Back in 2018 when I founded Copper, about $2 billion in digital assets had been stolen by hackers that year alone, and much of this was due to private key theft and compromised credentials.

Institutional interest in digital assets at that point was practically non-existent but I saw an opportunity to leverage recent breakthroughs in cryptography and help develop the infrastructure layer that would be required by institutions to securely hold and trade digital assets.

Zooming out a bit from the plumbing aspects, I was also attracted to this industry by the initial objective of cryptos’ underlying blockchain technology, which is to be trustless – not anonymous.

That said, for crypto to evolve into a mainstream and institutional-grade asset class, regulatory compliance is a necessity. Transacting on a blockchain cannot immediately indicate whether a certain sum of crypto has been generated from unethical activities. So in that respect, I am a strong believer that to use cryptos in good conscience, regulatory compliance is a must.

What aspect of the crypto industry excites you the most?

I remain excited and in awe by the incredible resilience the crypto industry has shown over the years in the face of enormous regulatory headwinds, hacks, rug pulls, scams, ‘shit coins’ and pump and dumps. As with every new technology, digital assets still have a number of teething problems to be ironed out before they fully hit the mainstream and institutional markets.

Once these issues are resolved, the technology has the potential to not only shape the future of finance, but disrupt different industries and current standards.

Also, working in this sector is incredible because it satisfies so many desires. For one, the multidisciplinary nature of crypto is a key reason that myself, and so many others, remain excited by the industry. The crypto industry presents so many elements to understand, and it becomes so easy to get sucked into the rabbit hole. As you try to make sense of each element, every answer begets more questions!

And secondly, there’s all the new developments. From DeFi to NFTs, the sector is spawning technological innovations and new paradigms across all aspects of technology, economics, and finance. The industry is still incredibly young and there’s a lot to deliver in terms of infrastructure, so we’re just going to keep grinding and keep delivering!