Back
Standard Chartered Plans to Acquire Zodia Custody’s Crypto Custody Business

Standard Chartered Plans to Acquire Zodia Custody’s Crypto Custody Business

Standard Chartered says shareholders and noteholders accepted its non-binding offer for Zodia Custody, with the bank set to bring regulated custody in-house while separating infrastructure into Zodia Solutions.

Fact Check
The claim is confirmed at the highest level of authority by Standard Chartered's own official press release at sc.com, which states the non-binding offer to acquire Zodia Custody's custody business was accepted by shareholders and noteholders. This is independently corroborated by CoinDesk and Crypto Briefing, both dated May 18, 2026, with consistent and detailed reporting on deal structure, parties involved, and strategic rationale. Earlier April 2026 reporting from CoinDesk further establishes that this acquisition was a known, developing process. No conflicting evidence was found. The only minor uncertainty is that the deal remains subject to regulatory approvals and closing conditions, meaning it is announced but not yet fully completed.
Summary

Standard Chartered announced that its non-binding offer to acquire Zodia Custody has been accepted by the company’s shareholders and noteholders, pending regulatory approvals. The bank plans to fold Zodia’s regulated digital-asset custody operations into its Financing and Securities Services business, consolidating overlapping custody offerings that had been developed separately. Zodia Custody, which Standard Chartered co-founded with Northern Trust in 2020 through SC Ventures, had expanded across seven offices in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East and attracted minority investors including SBI Holdings, National Australia Bank, and Emirates NBD. At the same time, Zodia’s institutional technology platform will be separated into a new SC Ventures entity called Zodia Solutions, led by current CEO Julian Sawyer, to provide bank-grade digital-asset infrastructure to Standard Chartered and other financial institutions. The report says the digital asset custody market now exceeds $1 trillion in assets under custody and is projected to reach $7 trillion by 2035, with no disruption expected for existing Zodia custody clients while the deal awaits regulatory sign-off.

Terms & Concepts
  • digital-asset custody: A service for safeguarding cryptocurrencies and other digital assets on behalf of clients, typically using regulated storage, security, and operational controls.
  • assets under custody: The total value of client assets a custodian holds and administers, without necessarily managing investment decisions for those assets.
  • SaaS: Software as a Service, a model where software platforms are delivered over the internet for clients to use without building the underlying systems themselves.