Institutional digital asset custody has lengthy compelled companies to decide on between security and adaptability. Chilly storage protects belongings 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 Finest Digital Asset Custody Supplier on the BeInCrypto Institutional 100 Awards 2026.
| Based | Backed By | Places of work | Jurisdictions | Workers | Regulatory Footprint |
| 2020 | 5 banks | 7 | 15+ | 150+ | 5 |
Zodia Custody Infrastructure Snapshot
The nomination facilities on the launch of Zodia Swap, a custody-native asset swap product introduced in February 2026 in partnership with LMAX Group.
Zodia Swap permits institutional purchasers to provoke asset-to-asset swaps immediately from their safe custodial wallets.
The product helps ERC-20 belongings together with ETH, wrapped BTC, RLUSD, USDC, and USDT, with out requiring purchasers to pre-fund an LMAX buying and selling account or transfer belongings off-platform.
That issues as a result of portfolio rebalancing remains to be one of the crucial awkward elements of institutional crypto operations. Corporations typically want to maneuver belongings from custody to an exterior buying and selling venue simply to regulate publicity. That creates delays, further approvals, and extra factors of operational threat.
Zodia Swap retains that workflow contained in the custody surroundings. Pricing and execution come from LMAX by way of infrastructure embedded into Zodia’s platform, whereas purchasers retain governance controls, permissioned AML screening, and audit trails.
Bringing Buying and selling Nearer to Custody
Zodia Custody was established in late 2020 by SC Ventures, Commonplace Chartered’s innovation unit, and Northern Belief. The agency was constructed to carry banking-grade custody requirements into digital belongings.
Its shareholder base now consists of Commonplace Chartered, Northern Belief, SBI Holdings, Nationwide Australia Financial institution, and Emirates NBD. Emirates NBD grew to become the fifth conventional monetary establishment to again the corporate by way of a strategic funding in December 2024.
The bank-backed construction is central to Zodia’s positioning. Custody is without doubt one of the few elements of digital asset infrastructure the place establishments nonetheless count on acquainted controls: segregation, governance, auditability, compliance, and clear authorized accountability.
Zodia Swap extends that mannequin from safekeeping into portfolio exercise. The product doesn’t flip Zodia right into a buying and selling venue. As an alternative, it lets establishments entry liquidity from inside their custody setup.
That could be a sensible shift. It reduces the necessity to decide on between conserving belongings protected and making them usable.
A Wider Institutional Product Stack
Zodia Swap builds on a wider custody and settlement suite.
The agency already affords Interchange, its off-exchange settlement product with LMAX. It additionally affords Options by Zodia Custody, a white-label custody infrastructure product for banks, alongside companies for presidency and regulation enforcement purchasers.
Zodia has additionally develop into a part of Europe’s regulated digital asset product market. Its custody mandates embrace 21Shares’ bodily backed ABTC ETP, Invesco’s European Bodily Bitcoin ETP, and Bitwise, previously ETC Group. Invesco states that every Bodily 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 forex, used Zodia Custody as the only real digital custodian in its first settlement cycle. The platform is powered by Nasdaq Eqlipse Clearing expertise.
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 purchasers and crypto-asset switch companies.
Commonplace Chartered Strikes Nearer
Zodia’s nomination additionally comes as Commonplace Chartered seems to be bringing digital asset custody deeper into its institutional banking technique.
On April 8, 2026, experiences instructed that Commonplace Chartered was looking for to merge elements 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 comparable companies.
That transfer would underline the path of the market. Digital asset custody is not a aspect product for monetary establishments. It’s turning into a part of the identical infrastructure stack as buying and selling, settlement, collateral administration, and tokenized asset companies.
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 Swap provides that place a sharper product story.
The BeInCrypto Institutional 100 Awards acknowledge companies constructing the methods that might outline the following part of digital finance. Zodia Custody’s nomination displays its position in transferring institutional custody from passive safekeeping towards managed, auditable asset exercise.
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