Standard Chartered's venture capital arm invests in cryptocurrency company GSR at a $1 billion valuation

BlockBeats News, May 5th. According to Bloomberg, SC Ventures, the fintech investment arm of Standard Chartered Bank, has made a strategic investment in the crypto market maker GSR, becoming the company's first external strategic shareholder since its founding in 2013. The transaction valued GSR at $1 billion.

The partnership was formally announced on May 5th, 2026. SC Ventures stated that this investment aims to deepen collaboration between the two parties in the tokenized assets and institutional-grade digital asset infrastructure space. GSR CEO Song Xin noted that the institutional digital asset market is rapidly maturing, and this collaboration will combine Standard Chartered Bank's capital markets expertise with GSR's crypto liquidity management experience, with a focus on the tokenization scene.

Reportedly, this equity investment builds on previous collaborations. Last month, GSR led an investment in Libeara, a tokenization platform launched by SC Ventures. SC Ventures CEO Alex Manson emphasized that with the evolution of the digital asset market, establishing a compliant and scalable liquidity infrastructure has become a key focus for traditional financial institutions.

Lately, Standard Chartered Bank has been very active in the digital asset space. In addition to investing in GSR, SC Ventures previously participated in an investment in another crypto market maker, Keyrock, and has plans to launch a $250 million digital asset fund.