Zodia Markets, Founded by Standard Chartered and OSL, Receives $18 M Funding

Zodia Markets:- In a big funding update, Zodia Markets which provides institutional crypto trading and is backed by Standard Chartered, has raised $18.25 million in a Series A funding.

The funding – as revealed today – saw participation from Circle Ventures, XVC Tech among others. With the funding, the firm will focus on geographic expansion and further develop cross-border stablecoin payments solutions.

Zodia Markets to Focus on New Stablecoin Products

Zodia Markets is a crypto trading and brokerage platform launched by Standard Chartered through its innovation arm SC Ventures. In 2021, SC Ventures partnered with OSL Group to create Zodia Markets, targeting institutional-grade crypto trading and brokerage services.

It was one of the pionering move by UK-based TradeFi giant by directly staking claims in a digital assets focused firm. The aim was to safely enable institutional clients (banks, funds, corporates) to access crypto, stablecoins, and tokenized assets.

It has also made efforts to compete with firms like Coinbase Institutional, Galaxy, and Fidelity Digital Assets, but with a stronger emphasis on regulatory compliance and fiat access.

According to the Bloomberg report, Monday’s funding would reduce Standard Chartered’s stake in Zodia from 84% to 60%. However, it still remains the majority shareholder, maintaining operational oversight and strategic direction.

Joining the industry leaders in tapping the stablecoin potential, the firm is set to launch new stablecoin solutions for the institutional capital. The platform already allows the minting and burning of USDC and EURC, in partnership with Circle,

It’s CEO Usman Ahmad said, “Institutional capital shouldn’t have to wait for banking hours or be held back by manual workarounds. Our heritage means we’re in a unique position to reengineer traditional foreign exchange capital flows with real time stablecoin settlement across borders. ”

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Targeted Expansion in Key Markets

Zodia has estblished good presence in terms of offering regulated OTC crypto brokerage services and electronic trading across key financial hubs: the UK, Ireland, Jersey, and Abu Dhabi (AME region). With the  funding, it is now targeting expansion across US, Latin America and the Middle East.

It has been pioneering stablecoin-focused foreign exchange (FX) markets, offering non-USD stablecoin pairs including those pegged to EUR, GBP, JPY, SGD, TRY, and more. Through a partnership with Hidden Road in March this year, Zodia became the first liquidity provider to stream Euro pricing versus stablecoins. This helped in enhancing Euro‑stablecoin trading for institutional clients.

Now, with the capital boost, more instititutional stablecoin products can be expected soon.