Standard Chartered to Offer Digital Asset Custody in Singapore
Bitcoin Magazine Standard Chartered to Offer Digital Asset Custody in Singapore The bank already offers bitcoin custody in other countries. This post Standard Chartered to Offer Digital Asset Custod...
Standard Chartered plans to offer crypto custody services for institutional clients in Singapore, the British multinational has said.
Institutional and corporate clients increasingly want secure, regulated, bank-grade custody for digital assets, the bank said Thursday. Standard Chartered already offers the service in the United Arab Emirates, Luxembourg, and Hong Kong.
“Singapore is an important centre for financial innovation, with a strong institutional ecosystem and growing demand for trusted digital asset solutions,” Patrick Lee, CEO, Singapore and CEO, ASEAN & South Asia, Standard Chartered, said.
JUST IN: 🇸🇬 Standard Chartered Bank announced its plans to provide custody services for Bitcoin and digital assets today 🚀 pic.twitter.com/Ynmdd5VEtP
“Robust infrastructure will be critical to supporting the secure movement, safekeeping, and servicing of tokenised assets at an institutional scale.”
Banks worldwide are integrating or offering bitcoin-related products and services. A number of U.S. and European banks have started offering crypto-related services by custodying assets for institutions.
Standard Chartered added the custody service would be for “selected cryptoassets, stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets.”
Tokenization is a hot topic on Wall Street as a number of traditional finance firms do deals with crypto companies, mostly to bring stocks on the blockchain to allow for 24-7 trading. Other assets are also being considered or debuted.
In 2025, Standard Chartered set up a trading desk for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in London, making it one of the first global banks to enter spot cryptocurrency trading.
The crypto desk became part of the forex trading operation. The bank the same year launched a blockchain unit called Libeara to help institutions tokenize traditional assets.
Last month, the bank debuted bitcoin trading in the UAE for institutional clients.
Crypto custody is often a starting point for banks moving into the digital asset space. BNY Mellon in 2022 became the first major U.S. bank to offer digital asset custody services.
And last month, Germany’s Deutsche Bank said it plans to launch a custody service for bitcoin, ether and select stablecoins for European corporate and institutional clients later in 2026, pending regulatory approval.
Asanat Analysis — Why it matters
Standard Chartered's expansion of digital asset custody into Singapore represents incremental institutional infrastructure consolidation in a jurisdiction that has explicitly positioned itself as a crypto-friendly financial hub. The bank's existing custody operations in other markets (likely UK, Hong Kong, UAE) provide operational templates, but Singapore's regulatory clarity under the Payment Services Act creates lower friction for launch. This matters because custody remains the gating factor for institutional capital deployment—without it, large allocators (pension funds, insurance, family offices) face operational and fiduciary obstacles.
The move signals banker confidence that digital asset custody has transitioned from experimental to standard banking service. However, the incremental nature—another major bank adding another geography—suggests the custody market is becoming commoditized rather than innovative. Spreads on custody fees are compressing as competition intensifies among traditional finance incumbents and specialized players (Coinbase Prime, Fidelity Digital Assets). The real question is whether this drives adoption or simply redistributes existing institutional capital across providers.