Standard Chartered has signed definitive agreements to acquire 100% of Zodia Custody, a company that safeguards crypto assets for institutional clients and that the bank first incubated through its venture arm, SC Ventures. The bank announced the deal from London on October 21, 2026.
Financial terms were not disclosed. The purchase, by the bank's subsidiary Standard Chartered I H Limited, is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. It follows the acceptance of a non-binding offer that Standard Chartered made earlier in the year; in May, the bank said Zodia's shareholders and noteholders had accepted its proposal, Unchained reported.
After closing, Zodia Custody's regulated digital asset custody business will become part of Standard Chartered's digital asset custody activities within its Securities Services unit. Zodia's software and professional services business will move to a new, independent company, Zodia Solutions. The bank said it does not expect any disruption for Zodia's existing clients.
What Zodia Custody built
Zodia Custody Limited is the parent of regulated operating companies in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and Luxembourg, according to the announcement. The business holds crypto assets on behalf of institutional clients, Dealroom reported.
The company traces its origins to SC Ventures in 2018 and was formally launched in December 2020 together with Northern Trust, news.bitcoin.com reported. After Julian Sawyer joined as chief executive in January 2023, Zodia raised $36 million in a round led by SBI Holdings. Its current chief executive is Richard Clark.
Dealroom lists Zodia Custody's total funding at $36 million. Fintech News Singapore reported that the bank's earlier non-binding offer had been accepted in May 2026, and that the definitive agreements now set out the full purchase.
“We continue to invest in our platform and expand our capabilities to meet the evolving needs of our clients.”
Why Standard Chartered is buying
Standard Chartered said the deal will consolidate its custody businesses, generate revenue synergies and expand its digital asset capabilities. Instead of backing a separate custodian through SC Ventures, the bank will run Zodia's institutional crypto custody inside its own securities services operation.
"We continue to invest in our platform and expand our capabilities to meet the evolving needs of our clients," said Ying Ying Tan, global head of securities services and digital assets at Standard Chartered. She said the acquisition further deepens the bank's digital asset custody portfolio.
Zodia's chief executive, Richard Clark, said in the announcement that "custody is increasingly becoming part of the global banking landscape."
The spin-out: Zodia Solutions
The part of Zodia that sells technology rather than custody will not go to the bank. Zodia Solutions will be an independent company under SC Ventures, led by chief executive Craig Perrin, and will provide technology that lets financial institutions launch and run their own digital asset services.
Its backers are NAB Ventures, Northern Trust, SBI Ventures Asset, Further Ventures' Q Studio, Emirates NBD, Investcorp through Zodia Investments, and SC Ventures through Zodia Holdings, according to the announcement.
"Financial institutions are moving beyond digital asset pilots towards operating services at scale," Perrin said. "Zodia Solutions provides bank-grade technology that enables institutions to launch, operate and scale digital asset services."
Splitting the business this way means Zodia's custody clients become clients of the bank, while Zodia Solutions, as an independent company with several bank and investor shareholders, sells its technology to financial institutions. The announcement did not say how many Zodia employees will move to the bank and how many to Zodia Solutions.
A busy week for crypto infrastructure
The deal was one of several moves in institutional crypto infrastructure in late October. In the same week, Fireblocks, another provider of digital asset infrastructure to institutions, denied reports that it was in talks to be acquired by Visa for about $2.5 billion, Dealroom and Finextra reported.
For Standard Chartered, taking full ownership of Zodia Custody brings a business that started inside SC Ventures into the bank itself, while the software side stays outside the bank with its own group of institutional investors.
