Standard Chartered Shatters Barriers: Institutional Spot Crypto Trading Goes Live in Industry-First Move
Wall Street's old guard just got a crypto wake-up call.
Standard Chartered—the 160-year-old banking dinosaur—has flipped the switch on spot crypto trading for institutional clients. No more synthetic products or futures contango headaches. Real bitcoin. Real ether. Real risk management.
Why this matters
Forget retail moonboys. This is about pension funds and asset managers needing compliant on-ramps. The bank's custody solution (approved by regulators who still think Satoshi is a sushi roll) finally lets institutions play without getting their hands dirty.
The cynical take
Watch hedge funds FOMO in now that there's a London banker holding their hand. Because nothing screams 'decentralized revolution' like needing a 19th-century institution to validate your 21st-century investments.
One thing's clear—when traditional finance starts eating crypto's lunch, they bring their own silverware.
Standard Chartered’s Spot Crypto Trading Signals Crypto’s Arrival in Mainstream Banking
Over the years, Standard Chartered has maintained a cautiously optimistic outlook towards crypto. The recent spot trading offering by the bank has been in development since June last year, when it announced the launch of a spot trading desk for BTC and ETH.
Standard Chartered’s MOVE into spot trading of crypto assets underscores a sharp pivot in how traditional financial (TradFi) banks interact with digital assets. Currently, most TradFi banks have limited their scope to offering custodial services or exposure via structured products and funds. This, however, might change in the future.
For now, Standard Chartered has a first-mover advantage in its offering of direct, real-time access to BTC and ETH trading, two of the most actively traded cryptocurrencies, all within the framework of the UK’s financial regulation.
The bank also gains a strategic upper hand with this offering. By integrating crypto offerings into its financial infrastructure, Standard Chartered has strengthened its client risk management and has positioned itself as an important cornerstone of an increasingly on-chain financial ecosystem.
Moreover, with this launch, the bank has expanded its suite of digital assets, including Zodia Custody and Zodia Markets that focus on secure crypto custody and trading infrastructure, along with Libeara, a specialised platform for digital asset tokenisation.
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Standard Chartered’s Quiet Foray into Digital Solution Expansion
In April, the Wall Street Journal revealed that Standard Chartered was exploring options to expand its crypto operations in the United States amid President Trump’s favourable crypto policies after longstanding regulatory hurdles.
The bank also partnered in April 2025 with OKX and Franklin Templeton to introduce a digital collateral mirroring program, aiming to bridge TradFi and digital asset management.
Moreover, earlier this year, in February, the bank’s Hong Kong subsidiary jointly launched its stablecoin venture with Animoca Brands, a local Web3 developer and Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT).
The group plans to issue a Hong Kong dollar-backed stablecoin under the city’s new regulatory framework and has submitted an application to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) for a license.
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Key Takeaways
- Standard Chartered has become the first global bank to enable spot crypto trading for BTC and ETH
- This offering will integrate into Standard Chartered’s already existing FX platforms
- This offering has been in development since June 2024 when the bank announced a desk for BTC and ETH spot trading
