Standard Chartered expands digital asset custody in Singapore for institutional clients

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Standard Chartered expands custody

Highlights

Standard Chartered will expand its digital asset custody services for institutional clients in Singapore, pending regulatory approval, through its securities-services division.
The bank's acquisition of the remaining stake in Zodia Custody and recent launch of institutional spot bitcoin and ether trading in Dubai reflect a growing institutional focus.
Standard Chartered is broadening its custody offerings beyond cryptocurrencies to include stablecoins and tokenized assets, targeting increased institutional demand in Asia’s digital-asset ecosystem.

Singapore rollout broadens custody strategy

As reported by CoinDesk, citing Standard Chartered, the planned Singapore service remains subject to applicable regulatory requirements and will sit within the bank's financing and securities-services business rather than operate as a retail crypto product.

Ole Matthiessen, Standard Chartered's global head of transaction services and digital assets, says secure and regulated custody is a critical foundation of the digital asset ecosystem. He says the bank continues investing in digital asset capabilities across key financial centers as client demand grows.

The expansion adds Singapore to a digital asset footprint that already includes the UAE, Luxembourg and Hong Kong. The announcement does not identify which crypto assets, stablecoins or tokenized products the bank expects to support, and it does not say when the service will begin.

Institutional demand shapes regional push

Standard Chartered has been building the business through its custody arm, Zodia. The bank agreed in May to acquire the rest of Zodia Custody, a firm it founded with Northern Trust, and last month began offering institutional spot bitcoin and ether trading through its Dubai branch's foreign-exchange platform.

In Singapore, the bank says the planned custody service will support clients across the broader asset lifecycle, from safeguarding traditional assets to issuing and holding tokenized versions of those assets. Patrick Lee, Standard Chartered's Singapore chief executive, says the bank sees rising institutional demand for trusted infrastructure to move and safeguard tokenized assets.

The move is not unique among global banks, with BNY having expanded its own digital-asset custody platform to include USDC custody and minting before later adding staking. Still, Standard Chartered's latest step strengthens its position in one of Asia's main digital-asset and wealth-management centers while widening coverage beyond cryptocurrencies to stablecoins and tokenized assets.

Our earlier coverage on the sell-off in Southeast Asian bank stocks explained how a jump in long-term bond yields hit sentiment and raised concerns about banks’ earnings outlook. We noted that higher yields can translate into valuation losses on securities portfolios while also lifting funding costs and tightening conditions for credit and capital-markets activity across the region.

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