Institutional custody
The custodian relationship.
Who holds the assets:
Ceffu. A regulated institutional digital asset custodian.
Ceffu provides cold storage for the underlying assets in each strategy vault. Custody is segregated (each strategy has its own SMA sub-account) and audited (regular third-party audits). The custodian itself is not insured.
The custodian is not MakeBanc. The platform is not custodial.
What an SMA is:
Segregated Managed Account. A custody sub-account opened in MakeBanc's name but ring-fenced to a specific strategy.
The SMA holds that strategy's underlying assets. It is segregated from the custodian's general balance sheet, from other strategies' SMAs, and from MakeBanc's operating accounts.
This matters in adverse scenarios. If MakeBanc were insolvent, SMA assets are not part of MakeBanc's estate. They belong to you, identifiable through the vault contract record.
Trade-only access:
The asset manager has API credentials with a specific permission profile.
They can: submit trades on Binance, manage existing positions, move assets between trading pairs within the SMA.
They cannot:
- Withdraw assets to an external address. The custodian's API rejects withdraw requests from trading credentials.
- Send assets outside the SMA. The withdrawal whitelist is limited to MakeBanc's settlement infrastructure for redemption flow, and the asset manager cannot modify it.
- Change the custody arrangement. That's configured at the platform level.
This is what "non-custodial for MakeBanc" means in practice. The custodian holds assets. The platform configures the relationship. The asset manager trades within the SMA. You hold proof of ownership in your wallet through vault shares.
How the SMA connects to the vault:
A defined movement path between the on-chain vault and the off-chain SMA.
Deposits: USDC moves from the vault to the SMA at the daily settlement event. The platform's settlement function initiates the on-chain transfer. The custodian credits the SMA.
Redemptions: USDC moves from the SMA back to the vault during the monthly redemption window. The asset manager initiates (as part of unwinding) and the custodian confirms.
Both directions are auditable. On-chain transfers are visible on Base. Off-chain transfers are in the custodian's books.
What happens if the custodian has an outage:
If Ceffu has an outage, settlement is affected: new allocations may queue but won't settle until the custodian is operational. NAV continues to update from the Binance API, so existing positions are still valued, and any settlement delay is flagged on your dashboard.
If the outage is sustained, the redemption window may be delayed. You're notified. When the custodian is restored, queued allocations settle and the redemption window opens.
For extreme scenarios, see If MakeBanc goes offline.
Why Ceffu:
The platform evaluated multiple institutional custodians. Ceffu was chosen for:
- Trade-only access maturity. Sub-account model purpose-built for custody with delegated trading authority.
- Binance connectivity. The SMA is a Binance sub-account. MakeBanc connects only to Binance, not to other exchanges.
- Operational maturity. Years of institutional crypto custody at scale.
Other custodians may be added as the platform expands. Vault contracts aren't hard-coded to a single custodian.
The custody arrangement in plain terms:
Ceffu holds the assets. MakeBanc cannot move them. The asset manager can trade with them. You can redeem them through the vault contract.
This is unusual in crypto, where most platforms either custody assets themselves or push you into self-custody with no professional infrastructure. The institutional SMA model is the middle ground: professional custody, segregated, regulated, with trading authority delegated to a designated party.
This separation of roles (custody, trading, and allocation) is the architectural foundation of the platform. The custodian custodies. The asset manager trades. You allocate.