Zodia Custody Looks to Drive Institutional Access to Polkadot Ecosystem

Cryptocurrency storage provider Zodia Custody, a subsidiary of Standard Chartered (STAN), is to provide institutional support for the Polkadot blockchain through a new partnership with the network's developer.

Together with Parity Technologies, the firm plans to provide custody for the Polkadot ecosystem, offering digital asset storage services for financial institutions. The two plan to offer staking of DOT, Polkadot's native token in order to further expand the network's reach among institutions.

Zodia Custody is majority owned by multinational bank Standard Chartered and also counts SBI Holdings and Northern Trust among its shareholders, giving it considerable significance in the context of institutional adoption of digital assets. It expanded to Singapore earlier this week.

Polkadot's DOT token is the 13th biggest cryptocurrency, with a market cap of around $5 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data. DOT is trading just above $4 at the time of writing, having fallen below the $4 mark for the first time in three years this week as part of a broad sell-off across the altcoin market.

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets and the future of money, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups. As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of stock appreciation rights, which vest over a multi-year period. CoinDesk journalists are not allowed to purchase stock outright in DCG.