SC Ventures taps SBI Holdings for crypto investments

SC Ventures, the venture arm of Standard Chartered, has announced a joint venture with SBI Holdings, a Japanese financial conglomerate, to establish a digital asset investment company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The new venture, referred to as the “Digital Asset Joint Venture,” is aimed at exploring opportunities in the emerging digital asset ecosystem on a global scale.

The two parties will capitalise the new investment company with $100 million, as stated in a press release. The venture’s focus will be on investing in various digital asset firms, including market infrastructure developers, decentralised finance (DeFi) projects, tokenisation platforms, consumer payment solutions, risk and compliance tools, and ventures related to the metaverse.

This collaboration builds on Standard Chartered’s growing presence in the digital asset and cryptocurrency space. Standard Chartered’s crypto custody arm, Zodia Custody, was launched in Hong Kong in October and has been expanding its services to financial institutions in Singapore, Japan, and Australia. Zodia Custody is among the first bank-owned entities to provide institutional cryptocurrency custody services in Singapore.

Standard Chartered is a well-established multinational banking conglomerate headquartered in London, founded in 1969, with a significant global presence, including numerous branches and thousands of employees worldwide. This joint venture with SBI Holdings in the UAE represents a strategic move into the rapidly evolving digital asset and cryptocurrency sector.