BeInCrypto 100 Institutional Awards Nomination: Zodia Custody for Best Digital Asset Custody Provider
Institutional digital asset custody has lengthy compelled corporations to decide on between security and adaptability. Cold storage protects property however slows buying and selling, whereas quicker market entry can add counterparty, prefunding, and operational dangers.
Zodia Custody is constructing round that hole. The agency is nominated for Best Digital Asset Custody Provider on the BeInCrypto Institutional 100 Awards 2026.
| Founded | Backed By | Offices | Jurisdictions | Employees | Regulatory Footprint |
| 2020 | 5 banks | 7 | 15+ | 150+ | 5 |
Zodia Custody Infrastructure Snapshot
The nomination facilities on the launch of Zodia Switch, a custody-native asset swap product introduced in February 2026 in partnership with LMAX Group.
Zodia Switch permits institutional shoppers to provoke asset-to-asset swaps straight from their safe custodial wallets.
The product helps ERC-20 property together with ETH, wrapped BTC, RLUSD, USDC, and USDT, with out requiring shoppers to pre-fund an LMAX buying and selling account or transfer property off-platform.
That issues as a result of portfolio rebalancing continues to be one of the crucial awkward components of institutional crypto operations. Firms typically want to maneuver property from custody to an exterior buying and selling venue simply to regulate publicity. That creates delays, further approvals, and extra factors of operational danger.
Zodia Switch retains that workflow contained in the custody atmosphere. Pricing and execution come from LMAX via infrastructure embedded into Zodia’s platform, whereas shoppers retain governance controls, permissioned AML screening, and audit trails.
Bringing Trading Closer to Custody
Zodia Custody was established in late 2020 by SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s innovation unit, and Northern Trust. The agency was constructed to carry banking-grade custody requirements into digital property.
Its shareholder base now consists of Standard Chartered, Northern Trust, SBI Holdings, National Australia Bank, and Emirates NBD. Emirates NBD turned the fifth conventional monetary establishment to again the corporate via a strategic funding in December 2024.
The bank-backed construction is central to Zodia’s positioning. Custody is among the few components of digital asset infrastructure the place establishments nonetheless count on acquainted controls: segregation, governance, auditability, compliance, and clear authorized accountability.
Zodia Switch extends that mannequin from safekeeping into portfolio exercise. The product doesn’t flip Zodia right into a buying and selling venue. Instead, it lets establishments entry liquidity from inside their custody setup.
That is a sensible shift. It reduces the necessity to decide on between maintaining property protected and making them usable.
A Wider Institutional Product (*100*)
Zodia Switch builds on a wider custody and settlement suite.
The agency already provides Interchange, its off-exchange settlement product with LMAX. It additionally provides Solutions by Zodia Custody, a white-label custody infrastructure product for banks, alongside providers for authorities and legislation enforcement shoppers.
Zodia has additionally change into a part of Europe’s regulated digital asset product market. Its custody mandates embody 21Shares’ bodily backed ABTC ETP, Invesco’s European Physical Bitcoin ETP, and Bitwise, previously ETC Group. Invesco states that every Physical Bitcoin ETP certificates is secured by Bitcoin held offline in chilly storage by Zodia Custody.
The agency can also be linked to new post-trade infrastructure. ClearToken’s CT Settle, a delivery-versus-payment settlement service for cryptoassets, stablecoins, and fiat foreign money, used Zodia Custody as the only digital custodian in its first settlement cycle. The platform is powered by Nasdaq Eqlipse Clearing know-how.
Zodia’s regulatory footprint has additionally expanded. In January 2026, French market regulator AMF listed Zodia Custody Europe S.A. as a MiCA-licensed CASP passporting from Luxembourg, approved for custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of shoppers and crypto-asset switch providers.
Standard Chartered Moves Closer
Zodia’s nomination additionally comes as Standard Chartered seems to be bringing digital asset custody deeper into its institutional banking technique.
On April 8, 2026, experiences steered that Standard Chartered was seeking to merge parts of majority-owned Zodia Custody with one in all its digital asset operations. The report stated the financial institution deliberate to combine Zodia’s crypto custody enterprise right into a division inside its company and funding financial institution that gives related providers.
That transfer would underline the route of the market. Digital asset custody is now not a facet product for monetary establishments. It is changing into a part of the identical infrastructure stack as buying and selling, settlement, collateral administration, and tokenized asset providers.
For Zodia, the timing strengthens the nomination. The agency already sits on the intersection of financial institution possession, regulated custody, ETP servicing, and institutional buying and selling workflows. Zodia Switch provides that place a sharper product story.
The BeInCrypto Institutional 100 Awards acknowledge corporations constructing the techniques that might outline the following section of digital finance. Zodia Custody’s nomination displays its function in transferring institutional custody from passive safekeeping towards managed, auditable asset exercise.
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