Julian Sawyer is handing over day-to-day leadership at Zodia Custody and moving into a strategic advisory role. The change was set out in a 10 September note to staff and later confirmed by the digital assets focused firm.
He framed the shift as a natural break as Standard Chartered works through its planned purchase of Zodia’s regulated custody unit and as the remaining infrastructure business is carved out as Zodia Solutions.
Sawyer wrote that this was the right moment to pass operational control while staying closely involved.
Richard Clark, the company’s chief revenue officer, will steer the custody franchise through its intended integration into Standard Chartered’s Financing and Securities Services division.
Craig Perrin and Anoosh Arevshatian will lead the build-out of Zodia Solutions. Sawyer said he would support an orderly handover on both sides of the split.
That is a change from the plan published in May.
After Zodia’s shareholders and noteholders accepted Standard Chartered’s non-binding offer for the custody business, SC Ventures said Sawyer would become chief executive of Zodia Solutions once the deal completed.
That appointment is no longer the working assumption. Zodia Solutions is meant to supply banks and other institutions with technology, wallet infrastructure and professional services so they can design and run their own digital-asset operations.
SC Ventures is expected to hold a majority stake, with Standard Chartered as an anchor client.
The May bank statement described the deal as a way to fold Zodia’s licensed custody work into Standard Chartered’s existing digital-asset custody franchise and to consolidate those activities under one banking platform.
Completion still depends on regulatory approvals, definitive documents and customary closing conditions.
Financial terms were not disclosed. Sawyer had earlier indicated a late-August target.
That date has passed without a public confirmation that the transaction has closed.
Zodia Custody is a London-based, institution-focused custodian backed by Standard Chartered together with other bank investors.
It provides regulated safekeeping, staking and related infrastructure to asset managers and financial firms.
After integration, the Zodia Custody name is expected to fall away as the regulated books move onto the bank.
The infrastructure platform would continue separately under the Solutions banner.
Until approvals arrive, the company is operating in a transitional structure, with Clark running custody and Perrin and Arevshatian developing the spin-out.
Sawyer has led Zodia since early 2023, following earlier roles at Bitstamp and Starling Bank.
The latest change leaves him connected as an adviser rather than as the executive responsible for either successor business. For clients, the live issues are timing of regulatory clearance and how cleanly the custody operation can be absorbed into a global bank while the technology arm is set up on its own.