Zodia Custody, a subsidiary of Standard Chartered, has broken ground in Singapore for the first time, CNBC has been informed exclusively. With this development, Zodia becomes the first entity owned and partnered with banks in Singapore that offers crypto custody services for financial institutions. According to the company's CEO Julian Sawyer, Singapore is progressing towards 'greater maturity' when it comes to digital currencies and its regulation by central banks.
On Tuesday, Zodia Custody - a company that assists large institutions in protecting their crypto - launched in Singapore in an effort to benefit from the nation's burgeoning market for digital assets. As the first bank-affiliated and owned entity to provide this type of service in Singapore, Zodia is also part-owned by SBI Digital Asset Holdings, the cryptocurrency division of the Japanese bank SBI, and is a subsidiary of the British Standard Chartered Bank which operates mainly in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. This marked the continuation of large institutions showing interest in digital currency, and Zodia wants to extend its reach to the Asia-Pacific countries due to the surge in demand for secured digital asset custody from banks and from existing customers in the region. CEO Julian Sawyer, formerly a co-founder of Starling Bank, shared that Singapore is “progressing to a new level of maturity” in terms of forming laws for crypto and the creation of central bank digital currencies, and that Zodia desires to be part of it. The brand recognition of Standard Chartered has been helpful in the conversations with big financial firms, and Zodia has customers ranging from hedge funds, asset managers, exchanges, and prime brokers. As the crypto ownership rate of Singapore stands at 19%, which is higher than the global average of 15%, the city-state has attracted robust support for crypto-related businesses despite the bear market that is lingering after the downfall of some prominent names. In 2022, fintech investments in blockchain or crypto totaled $1.2 billion, yet there was a 21% decrease in crypto-related financing. Globally, financing for cryptocurrencies reduced by 23%, falling to $23.1 billion in 2022. Following the establishment in Singapore, Zodia is planning to build its presence in Abu Dhabi as well, as the company has obtained regulatory approval in that region to take advantage of the crypto-friendly regulatory space and its status as a financial hub.
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