At the beginning of this year Anoosh Arevshatia took on the tole of chief product officer at Zodia Custody, the institutional digital asset custody firm backed by Standard Chartered Bank, Japan’s SBI Group, Northern Trust, and National Australia Bank. Arevshatia had joined Zodia Custody as group chief risk officer in February 2021 from Citi, where she had been SVP – risk framework and strategy.

You previously worked at Citi for 7 years – what made you want to leave a traditional bank and join Zodia Custody?

Zodia Custody represented the perfect fusion for me. Being part of a bank-backed venture that was at the frontier of finance, constantly pushing boundaries, driving change and influencing regulation and industry standards. This was an opportunity to make an impact that aligned perfectly with my drive and values.”

What have you found useful from your time at Citi at Zodia Custody?

“I had a solid grounding in financial markets at Citi. My time there across multiple different geographies and segments really helped me appreciate the practical elements of how digital assets and blockchain more broadly could be a part of custodian bank’s operations. This means I didn’t come in with rose-tinted glasses but rather practical knowledge of what steps were needed to develop a digital custodian.”  

You were promoted to chief product officer at the beginning of this year. What does this role involve? 

Essentially, I am responsible for the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of our platform. In my industry, that means striking the critical balance between institutional-grade security and market agility. My role is to align our engineering, product and business teams to ensure we aren’t just building a static vault, but a flexible infrastructure that allows clients to safely connect to and manage, trade, and utilize their assets as the market evolves.

What skills are you learning in your new role?

I’m learning to navigate and forecast ahead for the convergence of two worlds. Digital assets and traditional finance used to be separate ecosystems, but they are merging rapidly in 2026. My focus is on building infrastructure that speaks both languages so that our clients don’t have to worry about multiple complex integrations and instead can focus on doing what they do best.

Are you seeing more institutional interest in digital assets, especially since U.S. regulators have taken a more positive view? Will this be a theme for 2026?

There’s no doubt about it. The regulatory clarity from the GENIUS Act, the ‘repeal’ of SAB121 and the pro-digital asset innovation stance in the US have seen a marked uptick in institutional interest within the space and across borders.

[The U.S. administration passed the GENIUS Act in July this year which provides the first federal framework for stablecoins. The SEC’s SAB 121 ruling required custodians to recognise all digital assets as liabilities on their balance sheets, which resulted in large capital costs.]

There are many crypto-native firms and traditional custody providers who offer digital asset custody. What differentiates Zodia Custody?

We are born from banking, but built for digital assets, backed by financial institutions including Standard Chartered, Northern Trust, SBI Holdings, National Australia Bank, and Emirates NBD. With security and compliance embedded from the start, we offer the same rigorous governance, compliance, and insolvency protection that institutions expect in traditional finance, applied to digital assets.

What advice would you give to women who want to work in finance?

I’d give a few pieces of advice:

1. Take a leap of faith and go for it – but know that you need to put in the effort
2. Learn, learn and learn some more. You never stop learning, and you don’t know it all. 
3. Good enough is just fine – perfection is a blocker. 
4. Back yourself – if you don’t, why should anyone else?” 

One of your hobbies is producing music. How did you get involved in this?

Music is a creative outlet for me outside of my day job. It’s how I re-energize, but it’s also a mental challenge. Ironically, producing is surprisingly similar to product architecture. It’s like learning a new language where you layer thousands of variables to create something cohesive together. I got involved in this as I’ve always loved listening to music. This led me to learn how to DJ a couple of years ago, and then I went down a rabbit hole to take this up as my latest challenge! There’s no turning back now.