Thai bank's venture arm invests in institutional crypto custodian Anchorage

Just last month, SCB 10X — the venture arm of Siam Commercial Bank — had announced its new $50 million fund dedicated to investments in global blockchain, decentralized finance and digital asset startups. The banking institution is Thailand's oldest bank, established by royal charter back in 1907, and its latest forays into blockchain via SCB 10X are already underway.

According to a report on March 5, SCB 10X is a contributor to the recent $80 million Series C raised by Anchorage, a crypto custodian and digital asset platform that received the United States' first federal digital asset banking charter at the start of this year.

The Series C was led by GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, with investments from a16z, Blockchain Capital, Lux Capital and Indico Capital. The report of SCB 10X's involvement does not reveal the amount contributed by the fund, although its chief venture and investment officer, Mukaya Panich, has given some clue as to the significance of SCB 10X's choice of Anchorage:

"We [...] look forward to bringing Anchorage’s world-class cryptocustody solutions to Siam Commercial Bank’s customer base who are interested in having exposure to digital assets, and other potential users in Southeast Asia.”

Panich has been actively involved in discussions with blockchain industry members about the future of DeFi integration with traditional finance. Prior to the creation of its dedicated fund, SCB 10X had already invested in American cryptocurrency lender BlockFi, as well as collaborating with Alpha Finance Lab in November of last year.

In terms of broader cryptocurrency developments in Thailand, this week notably saw the country's Securities and Exchange Commission backtrack on a previous, controversial plan to enact a 1 million baht (roughly $33,000) minimum annual income requirement for crypto investment in the domestic market.