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Custody BTC for Dubai clients, Standard Chartered’s crypto footprint continues to expand

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Standard Chartered Bank continues to be optimistic about the development of cryptocurrency. After launching Zodia, it continues to expand its crypto asset custody services to the global market.

Table of Contents:

· Standard Chartered Bank has been optimistic about cryptocurrencies this year

· The development of Standard Chartered Bank's cryptocurrency asset management business

· Continued expansion into global markets and development of institutional clients this year

· Traditional financial institutions continue to lay out the cryptocurrency industry globally

October 18th, Standard Chartered Bank announced plans to begin custodianship of BTC and ETH for institutional clients in Dubai starting in Q1 2024. In the future, Standard Chartered Bank also plans to create a cryptocurrency settlement network.

Standard Chartered remains optimistic about cryptocurrencies this year

On April 24th, Geoff Kendrick, the head of digital assets at Standard Chartered Bank, stated in a recent report that Bitcoin may benefit from recent market developments. This includes turmoil in the banking industry, as well as the stabilization of risk assets as the Federal Reserve's tightening cycle nears its end. "Despite the continued source of uncertainty, we believe the path to the $100,000 mark is becoming increasingly clear," he added, noting that Bitcoin may reach this level by the end of next year.

On July 10th, Standard Chartered Bank stated in a report that "Bitcoin may rise to $50,000 by the end of this year and to $120,000 by the end of 2024. We now believe that previous estimates were too conservative." The report listed the improvement of Bitcoin miner profitability as one of the factors driving the price increase. BlockBeats previously reported that Standard Chartered Bank's report released in April stated that the Bitcoin winter is over and it will rise to $100,000 next year.

On October 11th, Geoffrey Kendrick, head of foreign exchange and cryptocurrency research at Standard Chartered Bank, stated in a report on Wednesday that "we believe Ethereum's established dominant position in smart contract platforms and emerging use cases in gaming and tokenization could push ETH to $8,000 by the end of 2026 (5 times the current price of $1,600)." Kendrick said that the expected price of ETH would reach $8,000, which is seen as the first step towards the bank's previously defined "long-term structural valuation" range of $26,000 to $35,000. Although the long-term valuation assumes that Ethereum's future use cases and revenue streams may not yet have emerged, the real-world use cases of gaming and tokenization should support their development.

Development of Standard Chartered Bank's Cryptocurrency Asset Management Business

Investing in Cryptocurrency Companies and Entering the Metaverse

On April 28, 2022, The Sandbox launched its Mega City2 land auction on OpenSea. The IP included in the land sales authorization are Hong Kong Ocean Park, Standard Chartered Bank, and Richemont Hotels Group. On April 26, Standard Chartered Bank announced that its subsidiary, Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited (SCBHK), has partnered with the metaverse project The Sandbox to "create a metaverse experience".

In November, Standard Chartered Bank led the Series A funding round for Partior, a blockchain payment technology company. The Singaporean startup is developing a blockchain-based interbank payment network that is expected to support eight currencies: USD, SGD, GBP, EUR, AUD, JPY, offshore RMB, and HKD. Each bank is responsible for its own node on the network, and Standard Chartered Bank will become one of the Euro settlement banks.

Leading participation in cryptocurrency pilot projects

In November 2020, Standard Chartered participated in the first phase of the connection project between the Hong Kong Trade Link Platform and the trade finance blockchain platform in mainland China, which was one of the seven banks participating in the pilot transaction. Standard Chartered subsequently announced that it had completed the first batch of cross-blockchain pilot transactions through this platform, assisting Hong Kong corporate clients in successfully conducting transactions with mainland Chinese suppliers through the Trade Link Platform, while the relevant suppliers completed transactions on the trade finance blockchain platform.

Later, at the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Innovation Economic Summit, Xie Wen, Deputy General Manager of Standard Chartered Bank (China) Limited, stated that Standard Chartered Bank participated in testing some pilot projects of digital currencies, such as the recent collaboration between Standard Chartered Bank, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and the Bank of Thailand, using central bank digital currencies to complete real-time point-to-point electronic transfers and foreign exchange transactions between banks in Hong Kong and Thailand.

In August 2021, Standard Chartered Bank announced that it will jointly launch a blockchain trade financing platform called Olea with fintech company LianLian Yirong (HKG: 9959). The platform aims to connect institutional investors with enterprises that have supply chain financing needs using blockchain and artificial intelligence technology.

November 2022, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) shared the results of its first Project Guardian pilot, which focuses on exploring DeFi and tokenization. MAS also announced two additional pilot projects, which are Trade Finance and Wealth Management. Standard Chartered Bank is leading the first pilot project, exploring the tokenization of trade finance assets.

Launch of institutional-grade encryption custody service Zodia

As early as 2020, SC Ventures, the innovation and venture capital subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank, announced an agreement with asset service provider Northern Trust to launch Zodia Custody, an institutional-grade crypto custody solution.

On June 2, 2021, the BC Group website announced that SC Ventures will establish a joint venture with BC Technology Group, a Hong Kong investment company focused on digital assets, to open a compliant digital asset trading platform for the European market.

In June, ICAP, the world's largest trading and brokerage firm, will collaborate with Standard Chartered Bank and Fidelity Group to launch a cryptocurrency trading platform aimed at seeking cryptocurrency assets trading similar to traditional assets such as stocks, bonds, and foreign exchange. It is understood that the platform aims to create a trading infrastructure that provides a digital asset custody network, separate trading execution and settlement, and is widely regarded as a key factor in enabling risk-averse investors to participate more in emerging cryptocurrency markets.

On July 15, 2021, Zodia began operating after receiving formal approval from the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

On July 28, 2022, Zodia Markets launched in the UK. Usman Ahmad, CEO of Zodia Markets, stated that the company has obtained approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and has begun trading BTC and ETH spot.

On October 25th, Zodia Custody released an identity toolkit that can help institutions easily prove ownership of cryptocurrencies in their custody wallets. Zodia's "proof of ownership" system embeds the identity of the wallet's private key owner in an encrypted manner, ensuring that third parties can verify the key. In addition, Zodia's patent-pending custody ownership system involves three different proofs: proof of ownership from the customer's perspective, proof of wallet management from the perspective of the cryptocurrency asset service provider (CASP), and proof of authorization as a private key management delegation from the customer to the CASP.

November, Zodia Custody launched a new asset protection service called Interchange, which allows customers to store their assets in Zodia Custody and then mirror them to trading platforms for trading.

Continuously expanding into global markets and developing institutional clients since the beginning of this year

2023 January, Julian Sawyer, former CEO of Bitstamp and co-founder of Starling Bank, became the new CEO of Zodia Custody, marking the start of the company's expansion in the global cryptocurrency market this year.

On March 10th, Zodia Custody announced that it has registered as a virtual asset service provider in Luxembourg, expanding its business scope to Europe. John Cronin, CEO of Zodia Custody, stated in an interview with Bloomberg News that "Luxembourg is renowned as the preferred center for such activities, and this move will enable Zodia to gain more fund management clients."

In addition, this move will also enable Zodia to further develop its business in the European Union before the new cryptocurrency regulations.

除了欧洲和亚洲，渣打也没有漏过其他市场。4 月 27 日，日本金融巨头 SBI 领投了 Zodia Custody 的 3600 万美元 A 轮融资，所筹资金将用于在欧洲和亚洲市场之外进行地域扩张。

Translation:

Except for Europe and Asia, Standard Chartered has not missed any other markets. On April 27th, Japanese financial giant SBI led a $36 million Series A funding round for Zodia Custody, and the funds raised will be used for geographical expansion outside of Europe and Asia.