Standard Chartered signs deal to take full control of Zodia Custody
Zodia Custody, set up in 2020 by the bank’s ventures arm and Northern Trust, moves in-house alongside the custody unit Standard Chartered launched under its own name in 2025
- Zodia’s digital asset custody business will be integrated into Standard Chartered’s securities services business
- Zodia’s software and professional services business moves to Zodia Solutions, a new independent company under SC Ventures led by chief executive Craig Perrin
- Zodia Solutions is backed by NAB Ventures, Northern Trust, SBI Ventures, Q Studio (Further Ventures), Emirates NBD, Zodia Investments (Investcorp) and Zodia Holdings
- Completion is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions
- The companies say they expect no disruption and existing Zodia Custody clients will continue to be serviced as usual
Companies holding digital assets with Zodia will have Standard Chartered itself as custodian once the deal closes, rather than a venture in which the bank held a majority stake. Buyers of Zodia’s technology and professional services will contract with Zodia Solutions, a separate company with its own shareholders, so custody and software sit with different suppliers. Neither company has published changes to fees or contract terms.
“Financial institutions are moving beyond digital asset pilots towards operating services at scale.”Craig Perrin, chief executive officer, Zodia Solutions
Standard Chartered signed definitive agreements on 21 October to acquire the whole of Zodia Custody’s parent company, which owns Zodia’s regulated entities in five jurisdictions: Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and Luxembourg. Neither side disclosed a price or a closing date.
The agreement follows a non-binding offer the bank made in May for the custody business of Zodia, its majority-owned subsidiary, which other Zodia shareholders and noteholders accepted, as reported by Bloomberg and The Block. The bank had already been building custody capacity of its own: in January 2025 it received a Luxembourg license to hold crypto directly under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) rules.
Cointelegraph reported that the bank had begun considering a move of Zodia’s custody business into its corporate and investment banking division in April, and that in September it launched spot bitcoin and ether trading for institutional clients in the United Arab Emirates.
Richard Clark, chief executive of Zodia Custody, said institutional adoption of digital assets is accelerating and custody is increasingly part of the global banking landscape. Ying Ying Tan, global head of securities services and digital assets at Standard Chartered, said the acquisition deepens the bank’s digital asset custody portfolio.
Sources
- Zodia Custody, “Standard Chartered Signs Definitive Agreements to Acquire Zodia Custody”, press release, 21 October 2026. https://zodia-custody.com/standard-chartered-signs-definitive-agreements-to-acquire-zodia-custody/
- Cointelegraph, “Standard Chartered signs agreement to acquire Zodia Custody”, 21 October 2026. https://cointelegraph.com/news/standard-chartered-acquire-zodia-custody-uk
- The Block, “Standard Chartered to absorb Zodia Custody’s crypto business into its own operations: Bloomberg”, 18 May 2026. https://www.theblock.co/post/401663/standard-chartered-absorb-zodia-custody-crypto-business-bloomberg
