Digital asset custodian Copper has appointed Amar Kuchinad as its new global CEO, the company announced Monday.

He will take the helm from Dmitry Tokarev, who founded Copper in 2018, and who will step down from his role after seven years but continue to remain associated with the firm as its founder director and a “strategic shareholder,” the company said. Former UK finance minister Philip Hammond is the chairman of Copper’s board of directors. 

Kuchinad’s focus will be to bolster the firm’s U.S. presence and position across traditional financial centers worldwide, as well as build on the recent regulatory licenses Copper received in Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi, the company noted.

Kuchinad, based out of New York, emphasized Copper’s role in setting the industry standard for digital assets.

“This remarkable track record of innovation and growth is testament to Dmitry Tokarev’s years of visionary leadership, both as Founder and CEO,” Kuchinad said in a statement, adding that he is keen to work with the global team “to lead the next phase of Copper’s global growth.”

Kuchinad plans to divide his time between Copper’s offices in New York and London, among other locations, he told Bloomberg. 

Kuchinad began his career at Credit Suisse and left the company to join Goldman Sachs in 2005. After working at the Wall Street giant for over six years, where he was the head of U.S. portfolio credit trading, Kuchinad joined the Securities and Exchange Commission as an economic fellow and a senior policy advisor. His work at the SEC revolved around Dodd-Frank regulations and other securities market rules and products.

After around one year at the SEC, Kuchinad established Electronifie, a bond trading platform. He became the chief strategy officer at Trumid following its Electronifie acquisition and served as senior managing director at Pretium. 

Copper aims to leverage Kuchinad’s expertise in capital efficiency and risk management as the former architect of Electronifie's SEC-registered trading platform, the company noted.

Copper has been navigating the rough waters of the crypto space. Last March, Copper shut down its enterprise business, a software and infrastructure development unit, due to the uncertain U.S. regulatory environment and to streamline its business, leading to a focus on ClearLoop — an area the firm anticipated would drive financial success. 

Copper’s ClearLoop is the largest global network for off-exchange settlement of digital assets. Since the start of 2024, ClearLoop has been processing a monthly average of 20 million trades with a notional value of $100bn, according to the press release.

As a result, Copper’s deal with State Street was called off. Soon after, in August, State Street selected Copper’s rival Taurus for crypto custody and tokenization. Earlier this month, the Boston-based lender tapped BNY executive Vanessa Fernandes as head of digital assets in a push to focus on the firm’s digital asset strategy. 

The crypto firm is pivoting its strategy to focus on applying its blockchain-based collateral management technology to traditional finance, Tokarev told Bloomberg, adding that Copper wants to “work with banks.”

“For Copper, most of the opportunities — especially post-election — would be in a regulated market, and quite a lot of them frankly are going to be in the US,” Tokarev told the publication.

The strategic shift, initiated in April, aims to broaden the company's reach beyond crypto-native firms and pursue custodial and money-transmitter licenses in the U.S., including New York's BitLicense, Kuchinad told the publication in a joint interview with Tokarev.

Copper’s recent move is the latest step in the ongoing shuffle in its executive circle. In July, Copper named three executive changes: Michael Roberts as its chief commercial officer, Mike Milner as global head of sales, and Katherine Light as global head of marketing.

Tokarev began looking for the right leader six months ago, he said in a LinkedIn post, adding that he will work closely with Kuchinad to support his onboarding process and ensure a smooth transition into his new role.

“We covered all bases to find the right candidate for this vitally important role, and I know that Amar is ideally placed to ensure Copper’s continued long-term success,” Tokarev said in a statement. “As our Board’s Founder Director, I will continue to be closely involved as we embark on this pivotal new chapter and the next phase of our company’s evolution.”