Zodia Custody, an offspring of Standard Chartered, has now formally introduced its digital asset custody services tailored for financial institutions in Singapore.
This strategic move comes as a response to the increasing demand from institutions in the Asia-Pacific region seeking high-security custody solutions for digital assets, as reported by CNBC.
Notably, this milestone solidifies Zodia’s position as the pioneering entity in Singapore, being both bank-owned and bank-partnered, offering digital asset custody services exclusively to financial institutions.
Zodia Custody Extends Its Services to Prominent Financial Institutions
Zodia Custody was founded in 2021 as a result of a collaboration between Standard Chartered and Northern Trust, underscoring the growing involvement of major financial institutions in the realm of digital currencies.
Furthermore, SBI Digital Asset Holdings, the cryptocurrency division of the Japanese bank SBI, holds partial ownership of Zodia, with joint plans to initiate a custody venture in Japan.
Zodia Custody caters to a varied clientele encompassing hedge funds, high-frequency traders, prime brokers, exchanges, and asset management firms.
The firm has strategically aligned itself with the strong brand reputation of Standard Chartered in Singapore, harnessing the bank’s robust risk management, compliance frameworks, information security, and operational resilience capabilities.
Singapore has solidified its position as a pivotal hub for the adoption of digital assets, boasting a crypto ownership rate of 19%, which surpasses the global average of 15%, as reported by Statista, a prominent market research firm.
This burgeoning trend is underscored by the substantial investments flowing into crypto companies based in Singapore.
Singapore Maintains Its Status as a Fintech Epicenter
Despite a challenging period for the industry, marred by the collapse of several prominent names, Singapore has continued to thrive as a fintech hub, with cryptocurrency and blockchain leading the way in fintech investments throughout 2022.
As per KPMG’s Pulse of Fintech report for the second half of 2022, cryptocurrency-related funding in Singapore reached $1.2 billion, albeit experiencing a modest 21% decline compared to the preceding year. Globally, crypto startups secured $23.1 billion in funding in 2022, marking a 23% year-over-year decrease.
Zodia’s strategic expansion into Singapore follows its recent foray into Abu Dhabi, where it secured in-principle regulatory approval earlier this month. This expansion is aimed at harnessing Abu Dhabi’s crypto-friendly regulatory landscape and its status as a prominent financial hub in the United Arab Emirates.
