Standard Chartered Bank plans to provide digital asset custody services in Singapore for certain cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and tokenized real-world assets, provided that they comply with regulatory requirements.
This service is aimed at institutional clients and qualified investor corporate clients, with the goal of expanding Standard Chartered's custody business to major financial centers.
Standard Chartered has not specified which assets this service will support, nor has it disclosed when it will begin to be offered.
Standard Chartered Bank stated on Thursday that it plans to provide custody services for certain cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and tokenized real-world assets in Singapore, further expanding its digital assets business. This business currently covers financial centers such as the United Arab Emirates, Luxembourg, and Hong Kong.
This service still needs to meet applicable regulatory requirements and will be targeted at institutional customers and qualified investor corporate clients. Standard Chartered stated that this service will be incorporated into its financing and securities services business, rather than being launched as an encrypted product for retail customers.
Chase's Head of Global Trading Services and Digital Assets, Ole Matthiessen, stated in a declaration: "Secure and regulated custody is a key foundation of the digital asset ecosystem. As customer demand continues to grow, we will continue to invest in our digital asset capabilities in major financial centers."
This is not the first time that global banks have ventured into such business. Taking Bank of New York Mellon ( BNY ) as an example, the bank has expanded its digital asset custody platform to support the custody and issuance of USDC, and later added a staking function as well.
However, this has indeed extended Standard Chartered's hosting services to Singapore – an important center for wealth management and digital assets in Asia – and has explicitly included stablecoins and tokenized assets alongside cryptocurrencies.
Standard Chartered has been promoting this business through its custody department Zodia. In May, the bank agreed to acquire the remaining equity in Zodia Custody which it co-founded with Northern Trust, and last month it began offering institutional spot Bitcoin and Ethereum trading through the foreign exchange platform of its Dubai branch.
In Singapore, Standard Chartered stated that the proposed custody service will support customers in covering a wider range of asset lifecycles, from holding traditional assets to issuing and holding tokenized versions of these assets.
Chase Singapore's CEO, Patrick Lee, stated that the bank has observed an increasing demand from institutions for reliable infrastructure to transfer and store tokenized assets. The announcement did not specify which crypto assets, stablecoins, or tokenized products the service will support, nor did it mention when the service will be launched.
The heads of global trading services and digital assets for Ole Matthiessen and Standard Chartered, stated in their declaration: "Secure and regulated custody is a key foundation of the digital asset ecosystem. As customer demand continues to grow, we will continue to invest in our digital asset capabilities in major financial centers."
