Zodia Custody

Zodia Custody is a regulated institutional digital asset custodian founded in late 2020 by Standard Chartered's innovation arm, SC Ventures, in partnership with Northern Trust. The company was purpose-built for financial institutions that need the security and compliance rigor of traditional capital markets infrastructure applied to digital assets. Headquartered in London with offices in Luxembourg, the UAE, Sydney, and Hong Kong, Zodia operates across 15 or more jurisdictions and employs more than 150 people. Its shareholder base includes Standard Chartered, SBI Holdings, Northern Trust, National Australia Bank, and Emirates NBD.

How It Works

At the center of Zodia's service is an air-gapped key management architecture. Client private keys are held in hardware security modules (HSMs) that are never connected to the internet, eliminating central points of compromise. Despite operating as cold storage, the platform offers 24/7 asset availability and settlement, meaning institutions can move and transact around the clock without manual retrieval delays. All client instructions are cryptographically signed, ensuring authenticity and non-repudiation at every step.

The platform is organized around several distinct product lines.

Custody is the core offering: bank-grade safekeeping with continuously available cold storage and audit-grade recordkeeping that meets institutional compliance requirements. Zodia supports more than 75 digital assets representing over 80 percent of total crypto market capitalization, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, USDT, USDC, BNB, Avalanche, and Chainlink.

Interchange extends custody into trading. Institutions can execute trades directly from cold storage and settle off-venue through Zodia's network of trading partners, removing the operational requirement to pre-fund exchange wallets or move assets into hot storage before trading.

Gateway is Zodia's ecosystem integration layer, connecting custodied assets to a curated set of third-party services — staking protocols, DeFi venues, and fintech platforms that Zodia has vetted. Gateway is the mechanism through which Solana staking and other on-chain integrations are delivered.

Solutions is a white-label offering for financial institutions that want to extend digital asset custody to their own clients. Banks, asset managers, and fintech operators can deploy Zodia's custody infrastructure without building the underlying technology themselves.

Zodia Rewards, launched in 2025, shifts the model from passive safekeeping toward active yield. Eligible token holders receive zero-fee custody and can earn tiered rewards up to 500 basis points on supported tokens. At launch, Zodia Rewards supports Circle's USDC, Ethena's USDe and USDtb, and the Global Dollar Network's USDG on Solana and Ethereum.

Security and Compliance

Zodia holds SOC 1 and ISO 27001 certifications. Regulatory authorizations span multiple jurisdictions: the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA firm reference 928347) under Money Laundering Regulations; Luxembourg's CSSF as both a crypto-asset service provider and payment institution; Hong Kong's Companies Registry under the TCSP regime (license TC009245); and the Abu Dhabi Global Market Financial Services Regulatory Authority in the UAE, operating under the entity name Tungsten Custody Solutions Ltd.

The platform builds Travel Rule compliance, financial crime controls, and data privacy requirements directly into its operational stack. Each digital asset added to the supported list goes through Zodia's own ecosystem due diligence and crypto asset assessment process before being offered to clients.

Team

Julian Sawyer serves as Chief Executive Officer. Anoosh Arevshatian, Chief Product Officer, brings a background in risk management and digital asset product development. Azmina Keshani (Chief Legal Officer) has more than fifteen years of experience leading legal initiatives at global financial institutions. Sophie Bowler serves as Chief Risk and Compliance Officer; Richard Clark leads revenue and market development as Chief Revenue Officer; and Laura Drake holds the Chief People Officer role.

Solana Ecosystem

Zodia's connection to the Solana ecosystem runs through two product channels.

In September 2024, Zodia partnered with Marinade Finance to offer Solana staking to institutional clients via Zodia Gateway. The integration allows clients to delegate SOL to Marinade's stake automation platform directly from cold storage wallets, without transferring assets to an external hot wallet or exchange. Solana became the fifth blockchain supported for staking on the Zodia platform, joining Ethereum, Polkadot, Cardano, and BNB. By November 2025, Marinade Select — the institutional staking product at the center of the integration — reported total value locked exceeding 3.1 million SOL (approximately $436 million at the time), driven in part by custodian integrations like Zodia's.

The second channel is Zodia Rewards. The program's launch roster includes USDG, the stablecoin issued by the Global Dollar Network, on Solana as well as Ethereum. This positions Zodia among the first regulated custodians to formally structure yield on Solana-native stablecoins within an institutional compliance and custody framework.

Corporate Development

In May 2026, Standard Chartered confirmed that its non-binding offer to acquire Zodia Custody had been accepted by Zodia's shareholders and noteholders. The transaction brings Zodia's digital asset infrastructure back inside Standard Chartered following its six-year run as an independently operated vehicle under SC Ventures. Under the announced structure, Zodia's institutional infrastructure platform would be reorganized as Zodia Solutions and continue operating under SC Ventures. The move reflects a broader pattern: banks that initially ring-fenced crypto custody into subsidiaries to limit reputational exposure are now absorbing those businesses directly as the regulatory environment has clarified and institutional demand has grown.

Notable clients and partners include Invesco, 21Shares, Galaxy, Securitize, XBTO, and Circle, alongside the financial institutions listed among Zodia's shareholders.