Financial Conduct Authority-registered institutional crypto and DeFi custodian wallet provider Trustology will be rebranded as Bitpanda Custody.

Initially, the new unit will take custody of Bitpanda’s own assets across its retail, institutional and whitelabelling businesses, making Bitpanda Custody one of the largest digital assets custody providers globally.

The custody business is the first step in launching a prime brokerage offering under Bitpanda Pro to go alongside the regulated digital asset exchange. The firm says that Bitpanda Pro will commit to a "disruptive fee model" aimed at bringing down the cost of custody to zero for customers who actively trade on its exchange.

Eric Demuth, CEO, Bitpanda, says: "Bitpanda Custody brings us one step closer to building a leading, fully regulated and secure digital investment platform for everyone, new investors and professionals alike.

"We can now provide retail customers with world-class institutional-grade custody security, and institutional clients will benefit from innovative custody solutions in order not to only overcome the challenges they face today, but also thrive in the years to come."

In a statement on the acquisition, the FCA says Trustology is registered under its Money Laundering Regulations, which do not include any provisions that allow the watchdog to assess the fitness and propriety of beneficial owners or changes in control before a transaction is completed.

However, it also warns that it " an take steps to suspend or cancel the registration of a cryptoasset business if it is not satisfied the firm or its beneficial owner is fit and proper".