Standard Chartered launches institutional digital-asset custody in Singapore.

Standard Chartered is launching institutional digital-asset custody in Singapore, marking its expansion into a major Asian wealth hub and explicitly covering stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets alongside cryptocurrencies. The move underscores how global banks are building regulated infrastructure to capture institutional demand in jurisdictions where crypto adoption remains nascent but growing.

• Standard Chartered will offer custody for selected cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and tokenized real-world assets to institutional and accredited investor clients in Singapore.
• The service expands the bank’s digital-asset custody network across the UAE, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, and now Singapore, all subject to regulatory approval.
• The bank has not disclosed which assets it will support or when the custody service will launch, leaving implementation details unresolved.

• 55 Markets where Standard Chartered operates globally as a leading international banking group
• May 2026 When Standard Chartered agreed to acquire remaining stake in Zodia Custody from Northern Trust

Standard Chartered announced Thursday (October 8) plans to launch digital-asset custody services in Singapore for institutional clients, according to the bank’s statement. The offering will cover selected cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets, subject to applicable regulatory requirements, and will sit within the bank’s Financing and Securities Services division rather than operate as a retail product.

Standard Chartered extends custody network across major financial centers

The Singapore launch extends Standard Chartered’s digital-asset custody footprint beyond existing operations in the United Arab Emirates, Luxembourg and Hong Kong. As CoinDesk reported, the move positions the bank to capture institutional demand in Singapore, one of Asia’s key wealth-management and digital-asset hubs.

Patrick Lee, Standard Chartered’s Singapore chief executive and CEO for ASEAN and South Asia, said the bank sees rising institutional demand for trusted infrastructure to move and safeguard tokenized assets. “Robust infrastructure will be critical to supporting the secure movement, safekeeping, and servicing of tokenised assets at an institutional scale,” Lee said in the bank’s statement.

Secure and regulated custody is a critical foundation of the digital asset ecosystem. As a GSIB we provide the trust, security and institutional safeguards needed to support broader market participation and adoption.

Ole Matthiessen, Global Head of Transaction Services and Digital Assets, Standard Chartered

Zodia custody acquisition sets foundation for institutional expansion

Standard Chartered has been building this business through its custody arm, Zodia, which the bank created with Northern Trust. In May 2026, Standard Chartered agreed to acquire the remaining stake in Zodia Custody, strengthening its control over the infrastructure. Last month, the bank began offering institutional spot bitcoin and ether trading through its Dubai branch’s foreign-exchange platform, signaling its broader push into digital assets.

The Singapore custody service will integrate with the bank’s existing asset-servicing capabilities, enabling clients to move seamlessly from safeguarding traditional assets to tokenizing and holding digital versions of those assets within an institutional-grade framework. This connected approach distinguishes Standard Chartered from competitors offering custody alone.

Critical details on supported assets and launch timing remain unspecified

Standard Chartered did not disclose which cryptocurrencies, stablecoins or tokenized products the Singapore service will support, nor did it announce a launch date.

The silence on implementation details leaves material questions open: whether the bank will support major assets like bitcoin and ether, which stablecoins it will custody, and whether it will include emerging tokenized commodities, equities or bonds. The regulatory approval process in Singapore, overseen by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, will likely determine the scope and timing of the offering.

The BlockWest read. Standard Chartered’s move reflects a broader shift in institutional banking toward digital-asset custody as table stakes rather than innovation. What matters for allocators is whether this service will integrate with the bank’s traditional financing and securities capabilities to offer tokenized-asset issuance and settlement at scale, or remain a siloed custody product competing on brand and security alone.

Investors and institutional clients should monitor Standard Chartered’s announcement of regulatory approval from Singapore authorities and the formal launch date, which will signal whether the bank can meet demand faster than rivals and whether the MAS’s approval process becomes a model or bottleneck for other global banks entering the market.

BlockWest is a news publication. Nothing here is investment advice. Read our disclaimer and editorial policy.