How to Onboard with Digital Wealth Partners for Institutional Custody #
You’ve decided institutional Custody makes more sense than managing keys yourself. Now you need to know what actually happens during onboarding.
Digital Wealth Partners provides access to institutional Custody through their partnership with Anchorage Digital. The process takes about two to three weeks from initial contact to having assets in Custody. Here’s what you need to prepare.
Start with the Right Entity Structure
You can’t onboard as an individual with a personal account. Digital Wealth Partners requires assets to be held in an LLC, trust, or IRA structure. This isn’t arbitrary gatekeeping. Institutional custody infrastructure is built for institutional entities, and proper entity formation provides legal benefits including liability protection and Estate Planning advantages.
If you don’t already have an appropriate entity, set one up before contacting DWP. A properly formed LLC or trust means you have operating agreements, tax identification numbers, and the documentation that custodians expect to see.
What Digital Wealth Partners Will Need
The onboarding process involves entity verification and Compliance screening. Expect to provide legal formation documents, entity registration with your state or jurisdiction, and tax identification information. They’ll need to know who the beneficial owners are and who has signing authority.
Compliance screening means KYC and AML checks on all principals. Have government-issued identification ready. Passport or driver’s license for individuals. Corporate documentation if the entity itself is owned by another business structure.
Digital Wealth Partners will ask about your intended use of the account. What assets are you holding? What’s your trading activity like? What are your internal controls? These questions help them understand risk profile and ensure Custody arrangements match your actual needs.
For clients moving significant assets, expect questions about your current Custody setup. Where are assets held now? What’s your Cold Storage architecture if you’re self-custodying? How do you handle key management and recovery?
Fee Agreement and Custody Terms
Once entity verification and Compliance screening clear, you’ll review and sign the Custody services agreement. This covers fee structure, service terms, and your responsibilities as a client.
Digital Wealth Partners has minimum requirements. You need either 50,000 XRP or $500,000 in total Digital Asset Portfolio value to onboard. Below these thresholds, institutional Custody doesn’t make economic sense for either party.
Moving Assets Into Custody
After paperwork clears, Digital Wealth Partners provides deposit instructions for each asset you’re bringing into Custody. You’ll transfer from your current wallets or exchanges to addresses controlled by Anchorage Digital’s Custody infrastructure.
This is where clients sometimes get nervous because they’re moving large amounts to new addresses. The transfer process should happen incrementally if you’re holding substantial value. Test with a small amount first. Verify it arrives. Then move the rest.
Assets held at Anchorage stay in segregated wallets under your control through a multi-signature arrangement where Digital Wealth Partners acts as co-signer. You’re not handing over complete control. You’re establishing shared Custody with institutional infrastructure behind it.
Ongoing Compliance Requirements
Onboarding doesn’t end when assets arrive. You’ll provide periodic Compliance attestations, update documentation when beneficial owners or signers change, and maintain proper entity standing.
If you add new authorized signers, Digital Wealth Partners needs advance notice and proper documentation. If your entity structure changes, they need updated formation documents. These aren’t bureaucratic annoyances. They’re the requirements that come with institutional Custody and regulatory Compliance.
Timeline Expectations
The full process typically takes two to three weeks. Entity verification might clear in days or take a week depending on how complete your documentation is. Compliance screening usually moves quickly if you have clean background checks and straightforward entity structures.
Asset transfer happens after all paperwork clears. The actual Blockchain transfers are fast. The preparation and verification before you initiate transfers takes time.
What Makes This Different from Self-Custody
When you manage keys yourself with hardware wallets like D’Cent, onboarding takes as long as unboxing the device and setting it up. No entity requirements. No Compliance screening. No documentation.
The institutional Custody onboarding process exists because you’re accessing regulated infrastructure with crime Insurance, bankruptcy-remote protection, and professional key management. The friction during setup buys you security and regulatory Compliance on the back end.
Working with Digital Wealth Partners and Digital Ascension Group
Digital Wealth Partners provides the RIA services and Custody access for clients focused on digital Asset Management. They handle fiduciary-level investment advisory, financial planning, and coordination with Anchorage Digital for Custody.
For families managing complex wealth across traditional and digital assets, Digital Ascension Group offers Family Office services that extend beyond Portfolio management. This includes multi-generational planning, estate coordination, tax strategy oversight, and comprehensive financial coordination across all holdings.
The choice between working directly with Digital Wealth Partners for Digital Asset Custody or engaging Digital Ascension Group for full Family Office services depends on complexity. If your needs stop at Digital Asset Custody and investment advisory, Digital Wealth Partners handles it. If you’re coordinating trusts, operating businesses, Real Estate, philanthropic structures, and multi-Generational Wealth transfer, Family Office services make more sense.
Contact Digital Ascension Group to learn how our Family Office services can coordinate your complete financial picture.
