What to know : Standard Chartered’s venture arm SC Ventures has invested about $150 million in crypto market maker GSR at a valuation above $1 billion, marking GSR’s first external stake since its 2013 founding. The deal is framed as a broader partnership to build regulated, scalable infrastructure that links traditional finance with digital assets and expands access to tokenization for institutional clients. The investment deepens Standard Chartered’s push into digital assets, following its launch of custody and spot bitcoin and ether trading services and its reported bid to fully acquire crypto custodian Zodia, while GSR continues to grow via acquisitions to bolster its tokenization business.
Standard Chartered PLC’s (STAN) venture capital division SC Ventures invested in GSR, as the London-based multinational bank seeks to further expand its digital asset services, the crypto capital market’s firm announced Tuesday.
The investment agreement, which according to Bloomberg was $150 million at a valuation of more than $1 billion, is the first external stake into the crypto capital markets and liquidity partner firm since its founding in 2013 by former Goldman Sachs traders.
GSR and SC Ventures did not immediately respond to a CoinDesk request for comment.
In its statement, GSR said the deal is part of a broader partnership to bridge traditional finance and digital assets, and to expand access to tokenization.
“Institutional digital asset markets are maturing rapidly, and the firms best positioned to lead will be those that combine deep capital markets expertise with trusted banking infrastructure,” said Xin Son, CEO at GSR.
SC Ventures and GSR plan to develop scalable market infrastructure in light of increasing institutional demand for regulated crypto services.
“The next phase of the digital asset evolution will be defined by the strength of infrastructure,” said Alex Manson, CEO at SC Ventures.
Standard Chartered has recently made financial investments aimed at expanding its digital asset footprint. In January 2025, it launched its own digital asset custody services out of Luxembourg and introduced crypto trading for institutional clients last summer, becoming one of the first global banks to offer spot bitcoin and ether trading. Standard Chartered was recently reportedly seeking to fully acquire Zodia Custody Ltd.
In March, GSR, which claims to have over 300 liquidity partners and over $1 trillion traded since its inception, announced the $57 million acquisition of Autonomous and Architech, a move aimed at significantly expanding the firm’s tokenization services division.
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