Zodia Custody

Company and ownership

Zodia Custody Limited was incorporated in England in January 2020. SC Ventures, the venture arm of Standard Chartered, announced that December that it would launch the custodian with Northern Trust, and the firm joined the FCA's cryptoasset register on July 15, 2021. Zodia names Standard Chartered, Northern Trust, SBI Holdings, National Australia Bank and Emirates NBD as key shareholders. Further Ventures became a shareholder in June 2025, when Zodia bought the Abu Dhabi custodian Tungsten Custody Solutions.

A change of ownership is pending. On October 21, 2026, Standard Chartered I H Limited signed definitive agreements to acquire 100% of Zodia Custody UK Limited, parent of the regulated companies in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, the UAE and Luxembourg. Before completion, the software and professional services business moves to Zodia Solutions, a new independent entity under SC Ventures. After regulatory approval and closing, the custody operations will merge into the bank's Securities Services unit. Richard Clark, previously chief revenue officer, became CEO after Julian Sawyer stepped back in September 2026.

Custody model and security

Client assets sit in air-gapped cold wallets. Private keys are stored in hardware security modules (HSMs) in secured data centers, and each client's entitlement workflows and policies are embedded in those HSMs. Zodia says clients can withdraw from cold storage 24/7. Holdings are segregated by client with no commingling, inside insolvency-remote structures intended to keep them separate from Zodia's balance sheet. The custody page lists a SOC 1 Type II report, a SOC 2 Type I report and ISO 27001:2022 certification.

Regulation and insurance

Permissions sit with separate entities. Zodia Custody (Europe) S.A. has held CSSF authorization in Luxembourg as a MiCA crypto-asset service provider since December 12, 2025, and in June 2026 it added a CSSF payment institution license for custody and transfer of e-money tokens. In London, Zodia Custody Limited is registered with the FCA under the Money Laundering Regulations (FRN 928347). Zodia states that neither this company nor its Australian subsidiary is authorized by a financial services authority, and the Financial Ombudsman Service and FSCS do not apply to the UK cryptoasset business. Tungsten holds ADGM FSRA Financial Services Permission 220129, which the FSRA varied in October 2026 to add custody of digital securities. Zodia Custody (Hong Kong) Limited holds Trust or Company Service Provider license TC009245.

Zodia publishes the limits of its insurance policies. The digital asset custody policy has a $100 million aggregate limit with no retention. A blended policy adds $55 million of digital asset crime cover and $10 million of professional indemnity, and a cyber policy carries $275 million above a $10 million retention.

Products and integrations

Interchange is Zodia's off-venue settlement network. Clients trade or borrow on connected venues while their assets stay in segregated cold wallets until settlement, which an on-chain engine completes on a delivery-versus-payment basis. Deribit adopted fully automated, rulebook-based settlement on Interchange in November 2025, and LMAX Digital uses the network for T+1 settlement. Staking runs from segregated custody wallets for seven assets, including ETH and SOL. The coin coverage page lists 78 tokens, among them stablecoins such as USDC and RLUSD and tokenized funds such as BlackRock's BUIDL, with availability depending on jurisdiction. Developers get a signed API with maker-checker approval and webhooks. Clients include ETP issuers Invesco, 21Shares, DWS and Bitwise, and in October 2024 Zodia replaced Fidelity Digital Assets as custodian of the Jacobi FT Wilshire Bitcoin ETF.