21Shares taps Standard Chartered-backed Zodia Custody to hold crypto

British crypto custodian Zodia Custody has become 21Shares’ custody provider for its physically backed ETP products in Switzerland.

British crypto custodian Zodia Custody, backed by Standard Chartered and SBI Holdings, has been selected as the custody provider for 21Shares’ physically backed exchange-traded products (ETPs) in Switzerland.

In a blog announcement on Tuesday, the London-based firm said it would provide custody services for “physically supported ETP products in Switzerland and the wider European market” in response to the “continued sharp increase in ETP demand.”

Mandy Chiu, 21Shares’ head of financial product development, said the collaboration was a “major milestone” in the firm’s commitment to providing “high-end investment opportunities” and highlighted Zodia’s “cold storage infrastructure and streamlined compliance solutions.”

21Shares appears to use custody services from other providers in addition to Zodia. As stated on the firm’s website, the firm also relies on Coinbase Custody and Copper, another British crypto custodian founded in 2018 by Russian-born Dmitry Tokarev.

Crypto.news has reached out to 21Shares to clarify whether the firm is still using both Coinbase Custody and Copper services and we will update the article if we hear back.

The partnership comes just a week after Zodia Custody secured funding from NAB Ventures, the venture capital arm of National Australia Bank (NAB), one of Australia’s largest financial institutions. Although the fund size was not disclosed, NAB Ventures managing director Amanda Angelini emphasized that the decision to invest in Zodia Custody was based on “a number of factors, including their innovative approach, enterprise-level security and strong work with regulators.”

Zodia Custody, founded by Standard Chartered together with Northern Trust in 2020, raised a total of $44 million from five investors, according to PitchBook data.