Standard Chartered, U.S. Bank, Klarna Each Unveil Digital Asset Partnerships

StanChart: digital asset custodian
 

Established in the mid-19th century, UK-based StanChart has been appointed as a digital asset custodian for 21shares, a major issuer of crypto exchange traded products, it said in a press release. 

The collaboration with 21shares “allows us to extend our expertise into the fast-evolving digital asset ecosystem and support digital asset-linked products, providing institutional investors with the assurance they require,” Margaret Harwood-Jones, Global Head of Financing and Securities Services, said in the release.

U.S. Bank: testing stablecoin issuance

Meanwhile, Minneapolis, Minnesota-based U.S. Bank said it is testing custom stablecoin issuance using its own stablecoin on the Stellar network, a public, open-sourced blockchain designed for payments.

The firm, which traces its roots to a bank charter approved by Abraham Lincoln, said that customer protection was at the core of the decision to partner with Stellar. During the research on Stellar, U.S. Bank discovered “that they have the ability at their base operating layer to freeze assets and unwind transactions,” Mike Villano, Senior Vice President, Head of Digital Asset Products, U.S. Bank, said in a Stellar blog. 

The bank is working on custody of crypto assets and stablecoin payments, with the latter seeing “more muted” demand from clients, according to President and CEO Gunjan Kedia, Bloomberg reported.

U.S. Bank, the fifth-largest bank in the US, created a new Digital Assets and Money Movement organization in October to develop and grow revenue from emerging digital products and services.

Older financial firms are wary of losing clients to peers that are more digitally advanced, given the growth in competition for consumers' attention and concerns from corporate customers that their longstanding banking service providers may not adequately meet their requirements in blockchain-based payment systems and markets. That's prompted a flurry of pilot projects and partnerships across the financial services sector, which are at varying stages of progression from concept to proof.

KlarnaUSD

Across the Atlantic, the bullish outlook for digital assets prompted the CEO of digital bank and payments provider Klarna to change his once-cautious stance. 

The Stockholm-based company introduced KlarnaUSD, its first stablecoin. It’s the first bank to launch a stablecoin on Tempo, which it described in a press release as a new independent blockchain started by Stripe and Paradigm that is purpose-built for payments.. The move was particularly significant as its CEO “was once a vocal crypto skeptic,” according to the press release.

KlarnaUSD is built on Open Issuance by Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure platformand will launch on Tempo’s mainnet in 2026. It is currently live on its testnet and not publicly available, giving Klarna early access to its infrastructure for advanced testing, prototyping, and integration.

Stablecoin cost-savings

The use of stablecoins will “dramatically reduce costs” for users, Klana said, noting that cross-border payments generate an estimated $120bn in transaction fees annually.

 “Crypto is finally at a stage where it is fast, low-cost, secure, and built for scale,” said Sebastian Siemiatkowski, co-founder and CEO of Klarna adding that the move was “the beginning of Klarna in crypto.” 

In 2021, Siemiatkowski was quoted on CNBC as saying that he was “deeply worried” about posts promoting Bitcoin on Twitter, saying regulators should act to protect the public from risks from the digital asset. By February 2025, he had changed tacks, posting on X:“Ok. I give up. Klarna and me will embrace crypto!”, adding: “Last large fintech in the world to embrace it. Someone had to be last.”

Corporate adoption

More than half of global corporations are planning to adopt stablecoins within the next year, a survey from consultancy EY-Parthenon found.

Most banks surveyed are preparing to offer stablecoin services, ranging from wallet infrastructure to on-/off-ramps, but they expect to rely on hybrid or partnership models rather than build capabilities entirely in-house.

By 2030, respondents project stablecoins could represent 5% to 10% of global payments, which would equal $2.1tn to $4.2tn in transaction value.