Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget announced the launch of its “Open Custody Network” (OCN), an attempt to loosen an industry structure in which exchanges have long bundled asset custody and trade execution on the same platform. The network connects banks and institutional-grade custodians to Bitget’s trading infrastructure, allowing eligible users to keep assets with external custodians while trading spot, leveraged and futures products on the platform.

Under the traditional centralized exchange model, users must first transfer assets into the exchange to access trading functions, which concentrates custody and matching in one place. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said that assumption deserves to be challenged. “We challenge the assumption that…