Standard Chartered Expands Institutional Crypto Custody to Singapore

The proposed service aims to bridge the gap between traditional banking infrastructure and blockchain-based finance. By housing digital asset custody alongside conventional securities operations, the bank intends to provide clients with a unified environment to manage diverse portfolios. While the specific list of supported assets and a definitive launch timeline remain undisclosed, the project is subject to ongoing regulatory review.

Patrick Lee, CEO of Singapore and ASEAN & South Asia, emphasized that the city-state serves as a critical hub for financial innovation. According to Lee, building reliable infrastructure for the safekeeping and servicing of tokenized assets is essential as institutional participation in digital markets matures. This move follows the bank’s broader strategy to internalize specialized crypto capabilities, most notably through its push to integrate the Zodia Custody business into its primary operations. Standard Chartered helped launch Zodia in 2020 and has since expanded its own digital asset footprint across the UAE, Luxembourg, and Hong Kong.