Standard Chartered-backed Zodia Custody in talks to raise $50 million: Bloomberg

Standard Chartered-backed digital assets custodian Zodia Custody is in discussions to raise $50 million in a new funding round aimed at supporting its geographic expansion and broadening its product offerings, according toBloomberg News.Zodia Custody CEO Julian Sawyer shared that the additional capital will fuel its plans to enter new markets and enhance its service suite.The custodian is seeking to diversify its investor base by attracting participation from payment and tokenization companies, Sawyer noted. The fundraising effort, which began last month, is being advised by Architect Partners, a crypto-focused advisory firm.This new funding effort comes after Zodia's $36 million round led by SBI Holdings in April 2023. Other investors were kept unnamed at the time.In June, Zodia Custody announced a partnership with 21Shares to provide custody solutions for physically backed crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) in Switzerland and Europe. The goal of this partnership was to offer added layers of security and regulatory compliance to 21Shares' investors, Sawyer said at the time.Standard Chartered is the majority investor into Zodia Custody. Other backers include Northern Trust, SBI Holdings and National Australia Bank Ltd. Zodia Custody also shares its name with Zodia Markets, a digital-asset trading firm that is likewise majority-owned by Standard Chartered.