SBI Digital Asset Holdings Co., Ltd. (SBI DAH) and Zodia Custody Limited, a crypto asset servicing provider for institutional investors and a subsidiary of Standard Chartered, announce that they have reportedly “entered into definitive agreements to launch a joint venture in Japan.”
Subject to anti-trust and foreign direct investment clearances, and licenses from the Japanese regulator, the Financial Services Agency, the joint venture will “act as a Japan-based crypto assets custodian, targeting institutional clients.”
The joint venture, which is “owned 51% by SBI DAH and 49% by Zodia Custody, will operate in one of the most sophisticated crypto asset regulatory jurisdictions, addressing a bottleneck that has previously held back interested institutions from participating in this space.”
It will allow both groups “to expand their existing markets presence and increase their ability to provide custody services and other ancillary services for crypto assets to institutional clients.”
Both SBI and Zodia Custody bring with them, “through their respective ecosystems, a wealth of technical expertise in the crypto asset space as well as the operational know-how to ensure the appropriate safeguarding of the institutional client’s assets.”
SBI DAH is a company that “oversees and operates digital asset-related businesses, under the umbrella of SBI Holdings.” Subsidiaries of SBI DAH “include SBI Securities Solutions (Japan), SBI Digital Markets (Singapore) and AsiaNext (Singapore), a joint venture with the SIX Group, among others.”
Zodia Custody, an institutional crypto asset servicing company based in London, “offers services to clients across the globe – enabling institutions to invest safely and securely in crypto assets.”
As a subsidiary of Standard Chartered “with backing from Northern Trust, Zodia Custody satisfies institutional investors’ needs for a crypto asset servicing provider that meets investors’ high standards and expectations, whilst maintaining the flexibility required to adapt to the ever-changing crypto asset market.”
Fernando Luis Vazquez Cao, CEO of SBI DAH, comments:
“We are delighted to have built a relationship with Zodia Custody that centres on building trust with our clients through financial strength, technological and operational expertise, and a shared alignment with market regulations for digital assets. We believe our partnership with Zodia is a unique global proposition to institutional clients, supporting our vision to become a pioneer and global trusted partner in the financial industry. We are excited with the path ahead of us.”
Julian Sawyer, CEO of Zodia Custody, says:
“At Zodia Custody, we intend to partner with the best in the world to expand our institutional custody offering. Partnering with SBI DAH ensures the joint venture will offer goldstandard crypto asset custody services in Japan. Zodia Custody is both proud and excited to be working with SBI DAH to help set up SBI Zodia Custody; the first tier 1 crypto asset custodian for institutions in Japan.”
Alex Manson, SC Ventures, says:
“This marks our second joint initiative with SBI since signing our MOU to accelerate portfolio expansion efforts as well as ecosystem building iin May this year. It’s great to be working in partnership with SBI again; thank you to our partners for their pioneering efforts in ‘rewiring the DNA in banking and financial services’ along with us – and here’s to more exciting endeavors together in the near future.”