TBW - Laurent Marochini (Standard Chartered Luxembourg): "Most transactions will happen on-chain — we need to be ready to support that entire value chain"
Standard Chartered opened its Luxembourg office in December 2024. Why did you pick this country as your gateway into Europe for digital assets?
We received our VASP registration on December 16, 2024 — the very same day I started my role and we officially launched the entity. Several factors guided the choice of Luxembourg. First, the Luxembourg regulator has shown greater confidence on the topic. Then there's the fact that Luxembourg remains Europe's top fund center and the world's second-largest, behind the United States. Culturally, it's a country where things work very smoothly with England: our legal contracts are drafted in English, everyone speaks English, and people in Luxembourg speak an average of 3.7 languages. On top of that, the country has often been ahead of the curve on these issues. It's demonstrated that you can obtain a license relatively quickly there, within a supportive ecosystem.
In practical terms, what do you do in Luxembourg?
We specialize in digital asset custody. We're not a bank in Luxembourg — we're a subsidiary of the Standard Chartered group, reporting to England. Today, we can custody five cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, XRP, and USDC. And we're currently in the middle of the process to obtain a MiCA license in Luxembourg, since the grandfathering period is coming to an end.
You only do custody. Why not apply for a broader license?
Because we already have execution capabilities, but out of London, where we run a trading desk for Bitcoin and Ether. Our own trading infrastructure, for our clients. In Luxembourg, we stick to what we do best: custody.
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"Our clients can see their traditional and digital assets on a single application"
What type of clients are you targeting?
Our segmentation covers banks, broker-dealers, asset management — including ETF, ETP, and ETN issuers — CASPs, and corporates. We've signed a public partnership with OKX, for instance: institutional clients of large crypto platforms are increasingly looking for off-chain custody solutions with banking groups, for insurance and trust reasons. We've also signed with a private bank, and more partnerships are in the pipeline.
Have any crypto ETP issuers publicly disclosed that they work with you?
Only 21Shares so far, and that's public. We're in the process of signing others.
What explains the strong conviction from top management on digital assets?
Standard Chartered is a systemically important bank, one of the largest in the world. We operate in over fifty countries, with a very strong footprint in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. People often compare us to a mini-HSBC. Historically, we've been very strong in asset custody. Senior leadership quickly became convinced that digital assets were here to stay. And for our clients, the shift from traditional custody to digital asset custody is ultimately quite seamless: on a single banking application, they can view both their traditional and digital assets. It's a natural extension of the business.
"Europe isn't behind, but it isn't ahead either"
Standard Chartered has a global perspective. How do you see Europe today on digital assets?
You have to distinguish between several topics that are moving at different speeds. On tokenization, it's a market in its growth phase. There's been a lot of experimentation in Europe, much of it driven by the European Central Bank. Europe is making progress, but not fast enough yet. I'd say it's not behind, but it's not ahead either.
On stablecoins, Europe is clearly lagging behind the United States, where the Clarity Act is advancing and where 99% of stablecoins are currently denominated in dollars. Still, the topic is starting to be taken seriously. You have MiCA regulation, the Qivalis consortium launching with around thirty banks, SG Forge just reaching €100 million in market cap, AllUnity... And there's a growing awareness at the executive level within banks that stablecoins are becoming essential to capture the opportunities created by tokenization.
Does the Luxembourg entity serve only European clients?
Not at all. We offer this service to our clients and prospects worldwide who need a crypto custody solution in Europe. Our clients aren't necessarily European. Some choose Europe because it remains the best-regulated continent — the one that inspires the most confidence. Others need to distribute in Europe and want the European passport. We're live in Luxembourg for Europe, in Dubai, and we're working toward being operational in Hong Kong and Singapore. So our clients have a range of four locations to choose from.
Can you give some concrete examples?
21Shares, which is Swiss — that's public. We also have a British broker. Clients who choose Europe do so either for distribution purposes or for trust. European players — typically ETN and ETP issuers based in Europe — will naturally work with European custodians.
"Stablecoins are becoming essential if you want to capture the opportunities of tokenization"
Could Standard Chartered launch its own stablecoin?
Not in euros — that's not on the agenda right now. However, we've obtained a license in Hong Kong. The project is called Anchorpoint; it's a joint venture with HKT and Animoca Brands, and we're going to issue a stablecoin in Hong Kong dollars, the HKDAP. We're also working on other stablecoin projects, but not in euros or US dollars for now.
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Why not in euros?
Standard Chartered is very strong in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Hong Kong remains a very large market for us. There's a clear logic tied to our scale, our target clients, and our markets. As for the euro, there's no short-term project, but it's a topic we're looking at from a digital asset custody angle, not as an issuer. Same goes for the dollar.
Is the custody of stablecoin issuers' reserves a topic for you?
My answer is yes — and we're not just looking at it, we're doing it. That's actually part of what makes my role so interesting. We're in discussions with all the major exchanges and stablecoin issuers. For any stablecoin of significant size, issuers need to diversify their reserve banks — sometimes across four or five institutions. We work with stablecoin issuers.
Let's talk about your technical infrastructure. You specialize in custody — what does your infrastructure look like? Is everything built in-house?
No, we use Zodia Custody. We've been investors in Zodia for a number of years, and they're a trusted partner. (Standard Chartered announced the full acquisition of Zodia on May 18 — Ed.) Of course, we carried out all the due diligence. We didn't go with Zodia simply because we had invested in them, but because they're a key player from a technology standpoint.
"Most transactions in the future will happen on-chain"
Is there a certain proximity with Coinbase, which also obtained a license in Luxembourg?
We have a group-level partnership with Coinbase — they're a player we already work with globally. I haven't set up a specific partnership for Europe since the group already has one. Personally, I'm very well connected with Jean-Baptiste Graftieaux, the former CEO of Bitstamp, who's now at Coinbase in Luxembourg. We're part of the same ecosystem. In Luxembourg, the financial community is small: when you go out for lunch, you often run into the same people. I'm also chairman of the blockchain and crypto working group at the Association des Banques et Banquiers, Luxembourg. We're all connected — we have proximity with the regulator, with the government. And we need players like Coinbase and Standard Chartered in our associations to help develop the financial center. Because that development will come, among other things, through the crypto ecosystem and tokenization.
What are the group's priorities for the coming year on digital assets?
The priority is to keep pushing everything we've started. Between digital asset custody across four locations, tokenization — where we've done bonds, sukuk (an Islamic financial instrument — Ed.), funds — and stablecoins... The focus is on continuing to acquire clients, onboarding them onto our platforms, and growing assets under custody. The ambition is for digital asset custody to become a significant revenue stream.
On tokenization, the priority rests on a simple observation: most transactions in the future will happen on-chain. So we need to be able to support that entire value chain end to end — issuing products on-chain, holding them on-chain, doing asset servicing on-chain.
If you had to pick one priority segment?
It's all of them at once — sorry if that's not the answer you were hoping for (laughs). But tokenized money market funds remain a particular priority, because they allow us to advance on the asset management front. We've already carried out a significant transaction with China Asset Management in Hong Kong, involving several hundred million dollars in tokenized funds. We have an enormous number of requests and projects in that segment. It's certainly where demand is strongest when it comes to tokenized products. Especially since tokenized funds can be used as collateral on exchanges. We're doing collateral mirroring in Dubai with two funds that have already been tokenized. You can both tokenize and replicate a capital markets system with collateral. It's a genuinely very promising use case.
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