Julian Sawyer To Be Appointed As CEO of Institutional Digital Asset Infrastructure Platform, Zodia Solutions

Zodia Solutions, an institutional digital asset infrastructure platform, will appoint Julian Sawyer as its CEO. Sawyer is currently the CEO of Zodia Custody, whose custody arm is being acquired by Standard Chartered, subject to regulatory approvals, the execution of definitive transaction documents and customary closing conditions.

Introducing Zodia Solutions

Zodia Solutions is an institutional digital asset infrastructure business, providing the technology, infrastructure and professional services that financial institutions need to design, deliver and grow their own digital asset services.

Zodia Solutions will be created following the completion of the acquisition of Zodia Custody’s custody business by Standard Chartered. Standard Chartered’s non-binding offer to acquire Zodia Custody’s custody business was recently accepted by the shareholders and noteholders of Zodia Custody.

Upon completion of the transaction, Zodia Custody’s regulated custody activities will be integrated into Standard Chartered’s existing digital asset custody Financing and Securities Services business. At the same time, Zodia Custody’s existing institutional digital asset infrastructure platform business called Solutions will be separated and the assets related to this business will be transferred to a new entity, Zodia Solutions, under SC Ventures.

Zodia Solutions will provide its clients with a technology infrastructure to deliver their own digital asset services. The Solutions business, which currently exists within Zodia Custody, launched in 2025 and is already supporting financial institutions globally. The breakout year in 2025 for the Solutions business reflects the scale of demand and opportunity ahead for digital asset infrastructure.

The Evolving Digital Asset Landscape

In 2025, banks and financial institutions globally began moving beyond exploration into active deployment, driven by accelerating demand for stablecoins, tokenisation and digital asset services at institutional scale. That demand continues to grow rapidly.

What became clear through this shift is that the existing infrastructure was not built for the market’s evolution. Most providers evolved from the crypto industry and lacked the governance frameworks, controls and operational depth that regulated institutions require.

Zodia Solutions is being purpose-built to bridge that infrastructural gap. As an institutionally owned business, backed by leading global banks, Zodia Solutions will bring together deep advisory expertise, a proven platform and a curated ecosystem of partners. Standard Chartered will be an anchor client of Zodia Solutions, and additional anchor clients are expected to be announced shortly, with institutions working alongside Zodia Solutions as design partners to shape the platform.

Julian Sawyer, CEO at Zodia Custody said: “Zodia Solutions is being built inside a regulated custodian with governance, controls, segregation of duties and risk management as part of its core design. What sets us apart is how we will work with institutions. We will work with them from strategy through to live operations, helping them design the right operating model before they build, deploy the infrastructure to run it, and then expand into new revenue-generating services through a single platform. That is an approach tailored to address institutional infrastructure needs.”

Alex Manson, CEO of SC Ventures, added: “With Zodia Solutions, we are now positioned to take the broader industry with us, which represents a significant commercial opportunity:  financial institutions will need the capabilities to operate in digital assets, starting with foundational elements of trusted custody, to building the infrastructure for broader adoption and scale.”

Zodia Solutions’ Key Offerings

Zodia Solutions will be the infrastructure that powers custody. Targeted at financial institutions globally, Zodia Solutions will offer a single integrated infrastructure layer that financial institutions can deploy to launch and scale digital asset service, subject to regulatory requirements. The offering spans three stages:

• Design: To help institutions make the right decisions before they build, Zodia Solutions will provide advisory and operating model support before deployment. This includes digital asset strategy, operating model design, governance and control framework design, and infrastructure planning.

• Deliver: Zodia Solutions will provide the technology and infrastructure layer for running digital asset services including but not limited to custody infrastructure and key management, transaction orchestration and workflows, policy enforcement and governance controls, risk and compliance tooling, and operational monitoring. Institutions will be able to deploy this layer within their own infrastructure to meet internal governance, data sovereignty and risk requirements.

• Grow: Zodia Solutions will have a curated partner network designed to support institutions seeking access to capabilities such as staking, off-venue settlement via Interchange, tokenisation, collateralised lending, liquidity access and payment rails in a single infrastructure, subject to applicable regulatory requirements and partner arrangements.

Following the completion of the transaction, Standard Chartered remains a shareholder, strategic partner and client of Zodia Solutions. At the same time, Standard Chartered’s digital asset custody activities will continue to run on Zodia Solutions’ infrastructure platform.

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