Julian Sawyer on qualified custodian
From How Institutions Secure Digital Assets | Zodia Custody CEO Julian Sawyer · · LilaMax Media
“America has got a concept of a qualified custodian. It's a legal definition of what a custodian does. And I've been on stage many times around the world talking about why can't the rest of the world copy the United States in terms of that to give reassurance to clients about what a custodian does, not just as a third party regulated custodian, but also from a platform perspective, what it means and what good looks like. And I think there is some real developments that that I think is coming forward on that.”
On , Julian Sawyer, CEO at Zodia Custody, spoke about qualified custodian during How Institutions Secure Digital Assets | Zodia Custody CEO Julian Sawyer on LilaMax Media.
About Julian Sawyer
Julian Sawyer, CEO of Zodia Custody, appeared on the Markets on Chain series from the New York Stock Exchange in April 2026 and in a separate episode from June 2025. He described Zodia as a venture created by Standard Chartered about six years ago on the premise that "the future was the blockchain," adding that the firm is "owned by the banks and used by the banks," which he characterized as a different maturity from crypto-native organizations. Sawyer stated that the GENIUS Act and regulatory clarity in the U.S. have provided "reassurance to financial institutions in America that actually this is a future," and he noted that the U.S. has a legal definition of a qualified custodian, which he said he has advocated for other regions to adopt. Sawyer expressed a view that the industry should "stop talking about the blockchain" as a separate topic and instead focus on how the technology can improve financial services, such as making payments quicker, enabling cross-border transactions, and supporting tokenization of real-world assets. He said that digital assets include stablecoins and tokenization, which he described as "mainstream financial services" requiring an understanding of risk and compliance. Sawyer emphasized that the industry should solve problems for consumers and corporates in moving money, managing money, borrowing, and lending, with an emphasis on inclusion, speed, efficiency, and cost.