Standard Chartered’s digital asset trading arm, Zodia Markets, has acquired the Jersey-based OTC trading business of Elwood Technologies.
This acquisition of Elwood Capital Management (ECM) is a key step in Zodia Markets’ mission to develop a comprehensive digital asset business. Usman Ahmad, co-founder and CEO of Zodia Markets, stated, “This acquisition is a significant progression to create greater diversification in our service offering and footprint, enabling scale and accelerating product capability.”
Ahmad emphasized that acquiring an established business with a regulatory-first approach allows Zodia to enhance its offerings for both new and existing clients.
For Elwood, this sale marks a strategic pivot towards its institutional-grade SaaS products and services, which include execution management and portfolio and risk management tools. Chris Lawn, CEO of Elwood, explained, “The sale of our OTC trading business supports Elwood’s strategic plan to build a world-class end-to-end EMS and PMS software platform, allowing us to fully dedicate our resources to the SaaS business. In line with our vision, Elwood has been investing heavily in our software platform, and we recently completed the build-out and integration of our new PMS with advanced capabilities.”
Following the acquisition, the entity will be rebranded as Zodia Markets Jersey Ltd. Details of the transaction have not been disclosed.