Copper, the UK-based crypto custody firm, is seeking a buyer at a valuation of approximately $500 million and has appointed Cantor Fitzgerald as sell-side adviser, according to two sources familiar with the process, CoinDesk reported on May 20, 2026.
The sale process marks a sharp turn from Copper's earlier trajectory. As recently as January 2026, the company was in early discussions about a public listing. Those talks were shelved as the crypto IPO window closed — a market where AI investment has absorbed much of the institutional capital that might otherwise have gone to digital-asset listings.
The asset Copper is putting before buyers is ClearLoop, its proprietary settlement network used by more than 1,000 institutional counterparties. ClearLoop enables delivery-versus-payment settlement within the custody layer itself, eliminating settlement risk without requiring assets to move on-chain. For an acquirer building out institutional services, that infrastructure is the core of the pitch: a live, scaled network connecting custody and settlement in a single step.
Neither Copper nor Cantor Fitzgerald responded to requests for comment, per CoinDesk.
A crowded M&A wave
The timing puts Copper inside one of the busiest deal periods in institutional crypto history. Several major transactions have closed or been announced in 2026: Mastercard acquired BVNK in a deal valued at $1.8 billion; Kraken bought derivatives exchange Bitnomial for $550 million; Bullish agreed to acquire Equiniti for $4.25 billion; and Standard Chartered moved to absorb Zodia Custody, the digital-asset arm it had incubated with Northern Trust. Each deal reflects the same logic — traditional finance and large crypto-native firms treating institutional infrastructure as an acquisition target rather than something to build from scratch.
Copper's ClearLoop fits that pattern. The network's $50 billion-plus monthly settlement notional, cited by the company, gives a buyer immediate scale in a space where network effects compound quickly.
What the valuation implies
A $500 million ask is a significant step down from the ambitions implied by an IPO process, but it reflects where private crypto company valuations have reset in 2026. With BTC trading in a range below $80,000 and public market appetite for crypto equities constrained, a trade sale to a strategic buyer is the cleaner path to liquidity for Copper's investors.
Cantor Fitzgerald's appointment as adviser signals a structured, bank-run process rather than an informal approach to a single buyer. Whether a deal closes at or near the reported valuation will depend on how acquirers price ClearLoop's network against the cost of replicating it — and whether a buyer emerges from the growing list of financial institutions moving into institutional custody.