Architecture & build
Custody, liquidity, settlement and order management, designed as one composable, audit-ready platform. Compliance built into the architecture from day one, not bolted on afterwards.
Independent advisor · Fractional executive
Regulated digital-asset infrastructure, built to survive real scrutiny.
I help banks, brokers, exchanges and custodians design, build and de-risk the infrastructure behind regulated digital assets. Two regulated trading platforms taken from zero to live. Now on your side of the table.
Approach
The gap most teams underestimate
There is a wide distance between crypto that works in a demo and infrastructure that holds up in front of a regulator, an auditor, a real incident, and an acquirer's due diligence.
Closing that gap is expensive to learn the hard way. I have crossed it twice, end to end, as the person accountable for product and technology, not as an observer or a slide deck. That means practical judgement about where a build will actually break, what a supervisor will actually ask, and which corners cost you a licence later. Precision work, in an industry where mistakes are regulated.
Services
How I help
Regulatory & licensing
Practical guidance across MiCA and DORA, AML and the Travel Rule, and licensing under the FMA, FINMA, FSA and AUSTRAC, from someone who has taken platforms through licensing, not just read the rulebook.
Independent audit & de-risking
A clear-eyed review of an existing or planned build: where it breaks under a regulator, a real incident, or due diligence, and what to fix first. No aftercare dependency, no upsell.
Fractional leadership
Interim CTO or Head of Product for a critical build phase, with a deliberate handover to your own team at the end. Momentum without a permanent headcount.
Track record
Built, licensed and launched, twice
- 20+ years across technology and finance; since 2018 focused on regulated trading and custody platforms.
- Built and launched the digital-assets business of Tradu, a Jefferies-backed institutional broker, to production in around ten months and live across three jurisdictions (EU, Seychelles, Australia).
- Head of Product and CTO at SMART VALOR, a regulated exchange under the Liechtenstein/FMA framework, from startup through to a listed company, with an active base of around 65,000 clients.
- Hands-on depth in MPC custody (Fireblocks), liquidity aggregation, deterministic settlement, real-time reconciliation, DORA and financial-crime controls.
- Diplom-Informatiker. Earlier: co-founder and managing director of a software house, through to a successful exit.
I work with institutional finance and crypto-native firms alike: banks entering digital assets, brokers, exchanges, custodians and the fintechs that serve them, across the UK, EU and Switzerland.
Contact
Let's talk
Tell me what you are building, or what is keeping you up at night about a build you already have. I will tell you honestly whether and how I can help.