Bloomberg has reported that Standard Chartered is considering a buyout of minority shareholders in its digital asset custody subsidiary Zodia Custody. The surprise is it has taken this long. Standard Chartered’s venture arm SC Ventures currently owns the majority of Zodia Custody’s stock.
But the company sold a significant stake to Japan’s SBI through its Series A fundraising, although the two companies recently disbanded a separate joint venture. Other minority shareholders include one of the world’s largest custodians and founding shareholder Northern Trust, National Australia Bank and Emirates NBD.
SC Ventures CEO Alex Manson previously told Ledger Insights that a key goal of SC Ventures is if the bank is to be disrupted, it should happen from within rather than by outsiders. So it made sense to set up Zodia Custody more than six years ago, partnering with Northern Trust for the venture. In the early 2020s the only other TradFi firm to engage in crypto custody was Nomura via custody joint venture Komainu. But the sector has matured and many major banks now offer digital asset custody, with JP Morgan as one of the few to explicitly steer clear of third party crypto custody.
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