Zodia Custody and Hidden Road collaborate on off-exchange settlement solution

Zodia Custody, a leading institution-first digital asset custodian by Standard Chartered in association with Northern Trust and SBI Holdings, announces its collaboration with Hidden Road Partners, the global credit network for institutions, to provide secure access to digital assets for institutions.

As a result of the partnership, institutional clients will be able to access both prime brokerage and custody services from a single, secure provider via Zodia Custody’s Interchange solution, with prime brokerage provided by Hidden Road. Interchange provides independent, effective safeguarding of digital assets, while also reducing the counterparty risk exposure for Hidden Road’s clients. This means that clients will retain full control of their assets, while ensuring greater protection through settlement obligations.

The collaboration between Hidden Road—the only firm offering prime brokerage to hold an FCA investment firm license alongside an FCA digital asset firm registration—and Zodia Custody (the FCA registered Crypto custodian) is indicative of the vision from both on the future direction the digital asset ecosystem needs to take. Both firms are committed to developing the infrastructure surrounding digital assets to further encourage institutional participation. A significant part of this work is in ensuring that firms operating in the ecosystem don’t just subscribe to regulations, but actively show that they are meeting requirements.

The combination of Zodia Custody’s Interchange product alongside Hidden Road’s prime brokerage offering further enables institutions to participate  in the digital asset market, while benefiting from additional layers of risk management and secure custody. In the wake of recent market turbulence, measures such as these are essential to facilitate institutional participation in the market without compromising robust safety requirements. 

“This work with Hidden Road is a crucial milestone towards building the market infrastructure institutions need to enter digital assets at scale while maintaining the rigorous standards of security, regulation and compliance,” said Julian Sawyer, CEO of Zodia Custody. “Partnering with Hidden Road means institutional investors are now able to leverage Interchange alongside the expertise of a like-minded provider offering prime brokerage to gain greater exposure to the many opportunities digital assets present, in a safe and secure way.”

“Hidden Road remains committed to providing our clients with a range of tools, partners and integrations to support trading across traditional and digital assets,” commented Michael Higgins, Global Head of Business Development at Hidden Road. “A sound regulatory framework is what institutions need most when it comes to trading digital assets, and bringing together our two FCA-regulated offerings will support the maturation of market structure in digital assets. Hidden Road’s collaboration with Zodia Custody adds value to our credit network, as we share a focus on security, compliance and risk management.”

About Zodia Custody

Zodia Custody is the leading institution-first digital asset custodian by Standard Chartered, in association with Northern Trust and SBI Holdings. It enables institutional investors around the globe to realise the full potential of the digital asset future – simply, safely, and without compromise. Through the combination of leading technology, custody, governance and compliance, Zodia Custody satisfies the complex needs of institutional investors.

The company implements the requirements of AMLD5 and applies the same standards as Standard Chartered relating to AML, FCC, and KYC. It also implements the requirements of the FATF Travel Rule.  Zodia Custody Limited is registered in the UK with the FCA as a crypto asset business under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017. Zodia Custody (Ireland) Limited is registered with the Central Bank of Ireland as a VASP under Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010 (as amended). Zodia Custody (Ireland) Limited was established in Ireland in August 2021. Zodia Custody Limited is registered with the CSSF in Luxembourg as a Virtual Asset Service Provider in accordance with article 7-1 (2) of the law dated 12 November 2004 on the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, as amended.

Photo by Red Zeppelin on Unsplash

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