tZERO Group, Inc. announced that its broker-dealer subsidiary's alternative trading system can now facilitate trading of crypto asset securities that customers custody directly on-chain in their own self-hosted wallets. This development enables transactions in those securities to be settled directly by customers on-chain, marking another critical step in tZERO's convergence strategy between traditional finance and the broader decentralized finance ecosystem.
The capability offers an additional bridge between traditional finance and DeFi for customers and API partners, allowing market participants to interact with tZERO's regulated ATS without relinquishing control of their private keys or assets to middleman custody. As one of only two broker-dealers that have been custodying securities directly on-chain in its own wallets, tZERO will continue to offer omnibus or individual wallet custody alongside self-hosted wallet connectivity for investors who prefer broker-dealer custody for operational, regulatory or other reasons.
"We are fast becoming the connective tissue for market participants across all vectors of Web3," said Alan Konevsky, CEO of tZERO. "By enabling custody and settlement via self-hosted wallets, we are providing the optionality that the market demands while pointing at the endstate of this revolution - compliant and transparent marketplaces that rely on self-regulating technology and asset sovereignty to deliver a cross-asset, cross-border and cross-protocol, AI-enabled investing experience."
A central pillar of this feature is custodial optionality, with tZERO's brokerage platform now supporting a hybrid approach that recognizes different market participants have varying preferences. Customers can choose between directly custodying their own assets on-chain using self-hosted wallets or using broker-dealer custody, allowing for seamless movement between traditional finance and the decentralized ecosystem.
"With this new capability, we continue to demonstrate our commitment to advancing innovation in a responsible manner, while working with regulators," added Vanessa Savino, Chief Legal Officer of tZERO. "Regulatory clearance to be interoperable with user self-hosted wallets promotes crypto asset programmability, portability, and transparency in our brokerage ecosystem."
tZERO plans to integrate key management and wallet infrastructure providers in the first half of 2026 to support secure, compliant settlement workflows involving self-hosted wallets. The company's services will be available to institutional API partners who elect to use tZERO's infrastructure rather than building their own, which represents significant operational challenges even in more permissive regulatory environments. More information about tZERO Digital Asset Securities may be found on FINRA's BrokerCheck.
