Zodia Custody partners with Securitize to bolster institutional access to tokenized assets

Zodia Custody, a digital asset custodian backed by Standard Chartered, SBI Holdings, Northern Trust and National Australia Bank, announced on Tuesday a partnership with tokenization platform Securitize. The collaboration aims to provide institutional investors with secure and compliant custody solutions for tokenized assets, including BlackRock's USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL).

Through the partnership, Zodia Custody aims to offer its bank-grade cold storage custody services to institutional market participants interested in trading tokenized real-world assets such as BUIDL.

"BUIDL’s sharp rise and adoption easily shows the opportunities that tokenized assets can offer," Zodia Custody CEO Julian Sawyer said. "More importantly, it also demonstrates the transformative potential that tokenization presents institutions and digital asset-native businesses alike."

Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo emphasized the importance of bridging traditional finance and blockchain technology via the new partnership.

“Our partnership with Zodia Custody extends secure and compliant custody solutions to institutional investors, enabling them to confidently access tokenized assets like BlackRock’s BUIDL," he said.

At the end of October, Securitize surpassed $1 billion in tokenized on-chain assets, primarily driven by the success of BlackRock’s BUIDL fund. This fund crossed the half-billion-dollar milestone in July and continues to attract institutional interest.

"The rapid adoption of BUIDL is impressive, but we’re just scratching the surface of what tokenization can achieve,” Domingo said in an interview with The Block.

Securitize has launched a new venture, Securitize Fund Services, aimed at simplifying the administration of blockchain-based funds to enhance the growth of tokenized real-world assets further. This service will help firms like BlackRock and Hamilton Lane streamline operational tasks, regulatory compliance, tax services, financial reporting, and record-keeping for tokenized funds.

"We decided to basically launch our own fund admin service,” Domingo said. "Traditional fund admins are not set up to serve onchain securities for tokenized funds that move at blockchain speed," he added.