SC Ventures Invests in Cryptocurrency Firm GSR at $1 Billion Valuation

On May 5, Bloomberg reported that SC Ventures, the fintech investment arm of Standard Chartered Bank, has made a strategic investment in cryptocurrency market maker GSR, becoming the company’s first external strategic shareholder since its establishment in 2013. This transaction values GSR at $1 billion. The partnership was officially announced on May 5, 2026. SC Ventures stated that this investment aims to deepen collaboration in the areas of tokenized assets and institutional-grade digital asset infrastructure. GSR CEO Song Xin noted that the institutional digital asset market is rapidly maturing, and this collaboration will leverage Standard Chartered’s capital markets expertise alongside GSR’s experience in crypto liquidity management, focusing on tokenization scenarios. This equity investment builds on previous collaborations; last month, GSR led an investment in the tokenization platform Libeara launched by SC Ventures. SC Ventures CEO Alex Manson emphasized that as the digital asset market evolves, building compliant and scalable liquidity infrastructure has become a key focus for traditional financial institutions. Recently, Standard Chartered has been active in the digital asset space. In addition to investing in GSR, SC Ventures has also participated in an investment in another cryptocurrency market maker, Keyrock, and plans to launch a digital asset fund with a scale of up to $250 million.