Zodia Custody, the cryptocurrency custodian owned by Standard Chartered, announced Tuesday that it is launching its services in Singapore for financial institutions, CNBC reported. Standard Chartered is a U.K.-based multinational banking conglomerate with total assets of US$838.7 billion as of July 2023.
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Fast facts
- Zodia reportedly said it is the first bank-owned entity to provide crypto custody services for institutional clients in Singapore.
- Singapore is moving to the “next level of maturity” in regulating crypto and developing central bank digital currencies (CBDC), Zodia Chief Executive Officer Julian Sawyer told CNBC.
- Last Wednesday, Zodia said it received an in-principle approval from Abu Dhabi to pursue regulated over-the-counter crypto broker-dealer activities in the United Arab Emirates capital.
- Earlier in February, Zodia announced a joint venture with financial services firm SBI Holdings for custody services in Japan.
- Standard Chartered launched Zodia in July 2021 with Chicago-based financial services firm Northern Trust.
- Several major cryptocurrency firms with a global reach have recently expanded their presence in Singapore. Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange founded by the Winklevoss brothers, announced in June that it’s growing its headcount in the city-state to operate as an expansion hub in the Asia-Pacific.
See related article: Singapore to require crypto firms to hold customer assets in a trust; restricts lending, staking by retail users