The London-based cryptocurrency custodian Copper plans to strengthen institutional involvement in the Hedera blockchain through a new collaboration. Copper will manage custody and staking responsibilities for Hedera's native HBAR token, paving the way for institutions to access Hedera's decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.

Hedera has garnered attention in the realm of asset tokenization, largely due to its unique hashgraph algorithm. Earlier this year, two blockchain companies, Archax and Ownera, chose to launch a BlackRock Treasury fund on Hedera's platform, despite the absence of direct involvement from BlackRock.

Copper provides services to over 300 major institutions and trading platforms and is known for its advanced asset management solutions. These include a specialized crypto wallet designed with multi-party computation (MPC) technology.

Additionally, HBAR will become part of Copper's ClearLoop network, which has connections to major exchanges and over-the-counter (OTC) desks. On a separate note, Copper Connect, a dedicated Google Chrome extension, will offer institutions the option to use HBAR across various DeFi applications such as Aave.