HTX Ventures Outlines Modular Architecture for Institutional Crypto Finance

HTX Ventures published a report Oct. 8 outlining a modular architecture for institutional digital-asset finance, with custody, collateral, execution, yield and risk management separated across traditional finance, centralized platforms and decentralized protocols.

The proposed structure reflects the rising cost of idle trading collateral as interest rates remain relevant to institutional balance sheets. It also addresses demand for yield-bearing assets that can remain with custodians while supporting trading activity.

Five Specialized Functions

Under the framework, traditional financial institutions provide regulated, yield-bearing assets. Centralized platforms and custodians support institutional access, compliance and execution, while decentralized finance protocols provide programmable backend infrastructure and liquidity. Risk curators manage risk parameters as a separate layer.

The model allows assets to remain with qualified custodians while exchanges record mirrored collateral values. DeFi protocols operate in the backend, with custodians, exchanges, lending protocols and risk curators forming the broader operating structure.

Stablecoin reserves illustrate the pressure behind the shift. ERC-20 stablecoin reserves on centralized exchanges fell from more than $75 billion at the end of 2025 to $61.8 billion in July 2026. Reserves recovered to approximately $64 billion by mid-August, still about 20% below the end-2025 peak.

Total stablecoin supply declined from approximately $315 billion in May to $300.86 billion in August, a drop of about 4.5%. Binance’s share of remaining exchange reserves increased from slightly above 60% at the end of 2025 to 68.5%.

Using $61.8 billion in exchange-held stablecoins and a three-month U.S. Treasury yield of 3.86% as of Sept. 1, the report estimates an annualized opportunity cost of approximately $2.39 billion from idle margin capital.

Tokenized Assets and Risk Management

The proposed architecture also incorporates tokenized traditional assets. Onchain real-world assets excluding stablecoins reached approximately $33.5 billion in July. Tokenized U.S. Treasurys rose from approximately $13.4 billion in early April to nearly $15 billion by May.

Risk curators managed approximately $9.26 billion. Steakhouse Financial accounted for about $2.99 billion, while Gauntlet managed approximately $1.51 billion. The four largest curators controlled about 65% of curated capital as of November 2025.

The arrangement could improve capital efficiency by allowing collateral to remain in custody while supporting trading and lending activity. But the report warns that responsibility for risk and losses remains unclear as more specialized layers participate in the same financial activity.

The total amount of risk does not shrink simply because custody, execution, collateral and risk management are distributed across different providers. The structure instead requires clear controls over risk parameters and defined responsibility when a custodian, exchange, curator or protocol fails.

The analysis is current as of Sept. 9, 2026. Its fee-sharing model is illustrative and based on publicly disclosed ranges. No public disclosure shows what proportion of tokenized money-market funds is actively used as collateral.