Zodia Markets, which is backed by Standard Chartered, raised $18.25 million in Series A funding to build a settlement platform of high quality for stablecoin transactions.
The funds will be utilized in developing infrastructure that will minimize the cost, speed, and make high-volume payments on blockchain fully compliant with regulatory requirements. The system will be designed to facilitate easier institutional clients’ cross-border payments, foreign exchange transactions, and tokenization of real-world assets.
Standard Chartered-backed crypto platform Zodia Markets lands $18.25m Series A https://t.co/okjEdDMylS pic.twitter.com/5XiD2xAOno
— FinTech Futures (@FinTech_Futures) August 12, 2025
Building the Payments of the Future
Stablecoins are ever more a vital component of the digital economy, but institutional onboarding is hindered by inflexible compliance infrastructures and settlement inefficiencies. Zodia Markets stands to close the gap by developing a platform that unites the agility of blockchain with the formality of regulated finance.
The new infrastructure will be aimed at cross-border payments of high value to allow the money to move in seconds instead of days. Transparency will be built into every transaction so that there is an auditable and transparent trail, but not at the cost of security.
The key feature in the deployment is the incorporation of EMTECH’s CBDC Guardian — a solution that enables real-time regulatory compliance across more than 60 jurisdictions. This enables cross-border banks and payment institutions to settle locally but maintain the benefits of blockchain settlement.
The Convergence of Banking and Blockchain
In recent years, banks shifted from viewing blockchain as a potential competitor in the future to viewing it as the future infrastructure of banks. Zodia Markets is not an exception.
Its co-ownership by Standard Chartered not only lends it credibility but also access to a deep well of institutional connections. This places Zodia Markets at the front of the pack in using its infrastructure on a scale that would be hard for smaller fintechs to match.
With this wake, National Australia Bank (NAB) has come on board to collaborate with the company in developing tokenised forms of physical assets such as property, bonds, and commodities. Tokenisation supports more straightforward trading, tracing, and settlement of these assets in a digital form, unlocking new revenue streams for traditional banking stakeholders.
The shift is happening: banks are investing in blockchain.
➡️$100B+ invested in blockchain companies since 2020
➡️$700B/month in stablecoin volume
➡️$18T projected in tokenized assets by 2033Our latest report with @CBInsights and @UKCBT_org uncovers how financial…
— Ripple (@Ripple) July 29, 2025
Why This Development Is Important
The universe of payments stands on the threshold of a generation-overhauling upgrade. Banks are in a rush to place blockchain at the very center of their systems, with a view to establishing it as the default settlement layer for everything from currency exchange to trade finance.
The advantages of such systems are clear:
- Settlement in seconds, not days.
- Fees fall precipitously by removing layers of intermediaries.
- Transparency in real time becomes the norm, not the exception.
- Compliance is a natural part of the process.
For regulators, this kind of transparency gives them more control without hindering innovation. For banks, it creates a competitive edge in the first digital economy.
The Unleashed Potential of Stablecoins
Stablecoins have already been gaining traction in retail cryptocurrency markets, but their potential in institutional finance has largely gone untapped. The inhibitors have been regulatory uncertainty, operational risk, and a lack of purpose-built infrastructure.
Zodia Markets’ effort is in response to such obstacles. Some of the potential uses of its product are:
- To settle international institutions’ foreign exchange transactions.
- Also, to settle large-scale international businesses’ trade invoices.
- To enable on-chain capital markets for bonds and other securities.
If they gain traction, stablecoins can scale up from a crypto-specific payment vehicle to a banking utility used in normal financial transactions.
Also Read: Ethereum Surges to $4,300 as $1B Spot ETF Inflows Suggest Institutions Are All In
The Bigger Trend: DeFi Rails for Global Finance
This round is part of a larger effort by the large banks and fintech disruptors to own the “rails” of decentralised finance — the underlying infrastructure upon which global financial flows will travel in the years ahead.
From Onyx, the blockchain infrastructure of JP Morgan, to NAB’s venture into asset tokenisation, industry sentiment is coalescing: the new financial system will be digitally complete, cross-border compatible, and borderless in operation.
And here, Zodia Markets’ move into stablecoin settlement is not so much a business move — it’s a strategic wager on the future of global economics.
Major banks and fintech players are in a race to control the core infrastructure powering the future of decentralised global finance ( Image Source: TS2 Space )
Final Take
With $18.25 million in fresh capital, deep banking connections, and a first culture of compliance, Zodia Markets is poised to set the benchmark for how institutions engage in stablecoin transactions.
As regulation, banking, and blockchain converge, this kind of initiative can set the terms under which money is going to move in the next couple of decades. And while the race to build the future of finance goes on, Zodia Markets has a firm head start.
