Standard Chartered is considering a significant restructuring of Zodia Custody, its majority-owned crypto custodian, as major banks increasingly move to bring digital asset infrastructure within their core regulated operations. According to Bloomberg, the UK-based lender intends to absorb Zodia’s crypto custody business into a division of its corporate and investment bank that already provides comparable services. An announcement on the move could come as early as this month.
Under the reported plan, Zodia would continue to operate as a standalone Software-as-a-Service platform for digital asset custody, even as its core custody functions are folded into Standard Chartered’s banking structure. It remains unclear whether the bank has begun negotiations with Zodia’s minority shareholders, which include Northern Trust, Emirates NBD, National Australia Bank, and SBI Holdings. Standard Chartered and Zodia had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.
Standard Chartered has been expanding its digital asset presence at a notable pace. The bank has reportedly been exploring the launch of a crypto prime brokerage platform through its venture arm, SC Ventures, and rolled out institutional crypto trading in summer 2025. The lender was among the earlier major banks to enter the digital asset space, co-founding Zodia in 2020 alongside Northern Trust.
Since its founding, Zodia has raised external capital and grown its operations across seven offices spanning Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The custodian’s expansion reflects broader institutional appetite for regulated digital asset services. The reported restructuring suggests Standard Chartered now sees greater strategic value in housing those capabilities directly within its regulated banking entity rather than through a separate venture.
Standard Chartered’s reported move aligns with a wider trend among global banks to bring crypto custody under regulated banking frameworks. In February, Morgan Stanley applied for a US de novo national trust bank charter, which would permit it to custody certain digital assets and carry out purchases, sales, swaps, transfers, and staking services for clients within a bank-regulated structure. The application signals growing institutional intent to formalize digital asset services under existing regulatory oversight.
BNY Mellon made an earlier move in this direction, launching a Digital Asset Custody platform in the United States in October 2022. The platform allows selected clients to hold and transfer Bitcoin and Ether alongside traditional assets on a single platform, positioning the bank as a provider of both conventional and tokenized asset servicing. Together, these developments point to an accelerating shift in how established financial institutions are integrating digital assets into their core offerings.
Originally reported by CoinTelegraph.
