Welcome to the Future of Digital Custody Oversight
Thomas Murray’s Digital Asset Custodian Monitoring (DACM) product sets a standard for transparency and risk intelligence in digital markets. Against an industry that is complex, fragmented, unstandardised, and fraught with cyber risk, our product provides you with the tools and insights to effectively evaluate, select and monitor your digital asset custodian.
Whether you're an institutional investor, asset manager, financial institution, or infrastructure provider, safeguarding digital holdings requires more than just selecting a custodian — it demands rigorous oversight across the entire value chain, including wallet providers, data centres, and cloud infrastructure.
Backed by Thomas Murray’s decades of experience in global risk oversight and post-trade infrastructure, our DACM solution provides a forward-looking approach to managing custodial risk in the digital economy. The product supports comprehensive, real-time monitoring of digital custodians and their third-party dependencies - ensuring the full value chain is captured and monitored.
Through our Orbit Risk platform, you’ll gain access to a comprehensive suite of advanced tools for assessing:
- Operational resilience
- Cyber security posture
- Legal and regulatory compliance
- Financial stability
For institutions requiring additional support, our DACM product is available as a fully managed service—offering expert-led due diligence, customised analysis, and continuous enhancement of your digital custody strategy.
Our Market Coverage and Monitoring Expertise
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The Orbit Risk Platform
DACM is delivered through Orbit Risk, Thomas Murray’s proprietary technology platform for risk intelligence and counterparty monitoring. With Orbit Risk, institutional investors and financial institutions gain access to a powerful suite of tools designed to enhance transparency, security, and operational resilience.
Through My Portfolio, users can easily visualise their entire network of custodians, wallets, and counterparties within a single, unified dashboard. Detailed Entity Profiles allow users to dive deeper into the risk metrics for each custodian, offering critical insights into:
Cyber Security (via Orbit Security)- Tracks cyber risks of all digital asset custodians and associated counterparties.
- Includes exposure tracking across technology groups, data centres, vaults, exchanges, brokers, clearers, and more.
- Tracks cyber risks of all digital asset custodians and associated counterparties.
- Includes exposure tracking across technology groups, data centres, vaults, exchanges, brokers, clearers, and more.
Due Diligence Management (via Orbit Diligence)- Issue, manage, and benchmark structured due diligence questionnaires.
- Review responses using standardised methodologies.
- Generate risk-adjusted evaluations and peer comparisons.
- Issue, manage, and benchmark structured due diligence questionnaires.
- Review responses using standardised methodologies.
- Generate risk-adjusted evaluations and peer comparisons.
Digital Asset Market Information- Detailed market-by-market analysis of how digital assets are regulated and treated.
- Covers legal and regulatory regimes, settlement processes, stablecoins, CBDCs, taxation, and more.
- Enables jurisdictional risk analysis and strategic positioning.
- Detailed market-by-market analysis of how digital assets are regulated and treated.
- Covers legal and regulatory regimes, settlement processes, stablecoins, CBDCs, taxation, and more.
- Enables jurisdictional risk analysis and strategic positioning.
Ongoing MonitoringReceive real-time alerts on changes to provider profiles, financial standing, and cybersecurity posture. Includes media scanning, market newsflashes, and regulatory updates.
Receive real-time alerts on changes to provider profiles, financial standing, and cybersecurity posture. Includes media scanning, market newsflashes, and regulatory updates.
Benefits of Digital Asset Custodian Monitoring
For Digital Asset Owners:
Risk-Based Custodian Selection: Choose providers based on robust, comparative risk analysis. Continuous Oversight: Monitor custodians on an ongoing basis across security, operational, financial, and regulatory domains. Proactive Risk Alerts: Stay ahead of developments that impact asset safety or servicing continuity. Strategic Leadership: Lead the adoption of standardised risk governance in digital asset management.
For Financial Institutions:
Institutional Collaboration: Contribute to and benefit from a peer-driven framework for digital custody standards. Digital Strategy Enablement: Align with best-in-class custodians to execute your digital asset and Web3 ambitions. Market Credibility: Leverage Thomas Murray’s reputation to enhance stakeholder confidence and regulatory alignment. Comparative Benchmarking: Access standardised assessments to evaluate and improve internal and external custody operations. Regulatory Readiness: Be prepared for increasing global regulatory scrutiny with a methodology that anticipates compliance needs.
What are the biggest risks associated with Digital Asset Custodians?
Leveraging our industry-leading approaches to risk categorisation, our Digital Asset Custodian Monitoring addresses all the critical operational risk elements essential to the effective safeguarding of digital assets, which in addition to the traditional operational risk elements include:
Cyber Security
The risk of a breach, leading to the loss or theft of client assets, which could result in significant reputational damage, financial difficulties, and potential regulatory penalties. Key areas to address include:
- Vulnerability Assessments and Penetration Testing
- Third-Party Risk
- Incident Response Plans
- Ongoing Monitoring (Orbit Security)
Asset Safety
The risk of asset loss due to breakdowns in safekeeping practices and related security controls. Key areas to address include:
- Legal & Regulatory Compliance
- Key Policy and Management
- Secure Architecture
- Wallet & Account Structures
Asset Servicing
The risk that a provider may be limited in its ability to effectively service digital assets, leading to potential losses or missed opportunities. Key areas to address include:
- Events Policy and Support
- Staking and DeFi
- Token Event Processing
- Blockchain Governance
Operational Risk
The risk of client loss due to breakdowns or weaknesses in a digital custodian's controls or procedural framework. Key areas to address include:
- Financial Crime Policies and Tools
- FATF Travel Rule Compliance
- Operational Resilience/BC/DR
- Audit
- Protection Against Bad Actors
Financial Risk
The risk that a digital custodian has insufficient financial resources to withstand operating pressures, or a sustained cyber-attack on its business. Key areas to address include:
- Insurance: Ensure appropriate insurance policies exist which address digital asset-specific risks, including loss of keys and cybercrime.
- Enhanced Financial Analysis: Examination of the Custodian’s balance sheet backing, key ratios, and solvency.
- Blockchain Proofs (where applicable): Solvency/Reserves/Assets/Liabilities.
Our Digital Asset Custodian Monitoring Experts
