Zodia Custody partners with OpenEden to offer institutional clients crypto asset yields

According to The Block's report, Zodia Custody, a subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank, has announced a partnership with the crypto startup OpenEden to link custodied crypto assets with real-world yield RWA, enabling institutional clients to access staking services.

Zodia Joint Venture by Standard Chartered, Northern Trust, and SBI

Zodia Custody is a subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank in the UK, which primarily operates in emerging markets such as Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. In 2021, Standard Chartered Bank partnered with Northern Trust, headquartered in Chicago, to establish Zodia Custody, a company that assists large institutions in storing cryptocurrencies. SBI Digital Asset Holdings, the cryptocurrency division of Japan's SBI Bank, also holds a stake in the venture. As part of the agreement, SBI has also agreed to provide custody services in Japan.

According to a report by CNBC, Zodia received preliminary regulatory approval in early September in Abu Dhabi and later announced plans to expand its operations in Singapore. Zodia stated that it is the first company owned by a bank and collaborating with banks to provide cryptocurrency custody services to financial institutions in Singapore.

OpenEden Focuses on RWA Products

OpenEden is a crypto startup founded in early 2022 by Jeremy Ng, former APAC head of Gemini, and Eugene Ng, head of business development.

OpenEden launched the OpenEden T-Bill Vault in April this year, allowing USDC stablecoin holders to mint TBILL tokens and earn returns from US Treasury bills. The total locked amount currently stands at $12.38 million, with a yield as high as 5.33%. While not the only platform offering tokenized Treasury bills, co-founder Eugene emphasized:

OpenEden is the first smart contract vault managed by a regulated financial institution, granting 24/7 direct access to US Treasury bills within a bankruptcy-isolated Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).

Tokenizing RWA is a killer app, OpenEden launches tokenized Treasury bill vault

This collaboration between OpenEden and Zodia Custody is undoubtedly another step towards compliance.

Julian Sawyer, CEO of Zodia Custody, stated:

There are many things from traditional finance that can be moved into digital assets. The challenge is how to bring some of the benefits to the world in a secure, compliant, and regulatory-first way. Our first-of-its-kind collaboration with OpenEden is exactly how we do it—providing yield products for our clients.