The landscape of digital assets in India is witnessing a fundamental shift. While discussions have long centred on innovation and regulation, the spotlight is now firmly on a critical piece of infrastructure: custody. As enterprises and institutions increasingly adopt digital assets and Web3 applications, the secure control and management of these assets have moved from a technical concern to a top-level strategic priority.
From Optional to Essential: Custody as the New Backbone
The rising tide of sophisticated cyber fraud and operational breaches has forced this change in perspective. Custody, the service for controlling and securing digital assets, is no longer seen as optional. It is becoming the backbone upon which the entire ecosystem's credibility and longevity depend. This is distinct from wallets, which are simply an interface for accessing assets.
Manhar Garegrat, Country Head for India at Liminal Custody, explains the core challenge. "Digital assets are fundamentally different from traditional financial instruments," he said. "They are natively digital, irreversible by design, and extremely sensitive to access controls. That changes how security, risk and accountability need to be approached."
Liminal Custody, an institutional-grade provider, focuses on helping enterprises, exchanges, and institutions manage digital assets with robust governance and operational controls. The need for such services is acute as attackers increasingly exploit human workflows, operational loopholes, and weak internal controls around wallets.
Governance Failures, Not Tech, Are the Real Threat
Garegrat highlights a crucial insight from industry incidents. "Most failures we see across the ecosystem are not technology failures," he noted. Instead, they are failures of process, governance, and accountability. This underscores why defining precisely who can access assets, under what conditions, and with what oversight is paramount.
The relevance of professional custody solutions has grown in parallel with the maturation of Web3. Enterprises exploring real-world asset tokenisation, on-chain settlements, and other advanced applications require security frameworks as strong as those in traditional finance. This transition has also changed who makes custody decisions, bringing in Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs), risk committees, and compliance leaders alongside engineering teams.
The 2026 Outlook: Segregation and Specialisation
Looking ahead, Garegrat believes custody will define the next phase of sustainable digital asset adoption in India. He predicts a significant structural change for crypto exchanges. "Exchanges today have trading, brokerage, and custody under one roof. By the end of 2026, we expect a clear shift toward segregation of duties and third-party custody to prevent systemic failures," he stated.
This move towards specialised, regulated custody providers signals a maturing market. It reflects an understanding that for digital assets to gain full trust and integrate deeply with the global financial system, the infrastructure safeguarding them must be unassailable, transparent, and built on principles of strong governance above all else.
