Standard Chartered PLC reportedly seeks to fully acquire Zodia Custody Ltd. to merge it with one of its digital assets divisions, sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on Wednesday.
The “restructuring” plan, which could come as soon as this month, envisages merging Zodia’s cryptocurrency custody business into one of the investment bank’s divisions that provides similar services, the sources told Bloomberg.
The sources also said that Standard Chartered was considering allowing Zodia Custody to continue operating as a separate software-as-a-service (SAAS) business for cryptocurrency custody.
According to Bloomberg, people familiar with the negotiations did not say whether Standard Chartered had contacted Zodia Custody’s minority shareholders, which include Northern Trust Corp., Emirates NBD Bank PJSC, National Australia Bank Ltd. and SBI Holdings Inc.
Emirates NBD and Northern Trust declined to comment, while SBI Holdings and NAB did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Bloomberg wrote.
Standard Chartered told CoinDesk it would not comment on news of the potential buyout. Zodia did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.
Standard Chartered has expanded its digital asset footprint in recent years. The bank launched its own digital asset custody services in Luxembourg in January last year and introduced cryptocurrency trading for institutional clients last summer, becoming one of the first global banks to offer spot trading of bitcoin and ether.
Banks have been ramping up their activities in digital assets as regulation improves in key regions such as the United States and Europe. Cryptocurrency custody in particular has become a competitive battleground, with companies such as State Street, BNY Mellon and Morgan Stanley expanding their presence, with Morgan Stanley recently appointing Coinbase and BNY Mellon as custodians for a proposed Bitcoin ETF.
Zodia, which targeted financial institutions and began holding emeralds in June 2025, raised $18.5 million in a Series A funding round in July last year to expand and grow its stablecoin payment services.
The company was originally established in 2020 as a joint venture between Standard Chartered and Northern Trust and has since raised external capital several times. Zodia Custody employs approximately 150 people across seven offices in London, Dublin, Luxembourg, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Sydney and Hong Kong.
