Standard Chartered to absorb Zodia Custody's crypto business into its own operations: Bloomberg

Standard Chartered plans to acquire the crypto custody business of Zodia Custody, its majority-owned subsidiary, folding operations directly into the bank's own digital asset infrastructure.

The bank's non-binding offer has been accepted by other Zodia Custody shareholders and noteholders, according to a statement cited by Bloomberg.

Zodia Custody will continue to operate as a standalone software-as-a-service platform after the transaction closes.

Zodia Custody launched in 2020 as a joint venture between SC Ventures, Standard Chartered's innovation arm, and Northern Trust, raising $36 million in 2023 and in talks for a further $50 million round as recently as late 2024.

The absorption is perhaps the logical endpoint of a strategy Standard Chartered has been executing in parallel for over a year.

The bank secured a Luxembourg license to provide crypto custody directly under MiCA rules in January 2025. It launched its own branded custody unit later that year, creating overlapping infrastructure that made consolidation inevitable.

The Block reported in April that Standard Chartered was weighing the integration of Zodia's custody operations with its corporate and institutional banking division.