Standard Chartered Expands Institutional Crypto Trading Capabilities

​Standard Chartered has broadened its digital asset services with the introduction of spot trading for Bitcoin (XBT/USD) and Ether (XET/USD) via its UK branch. The bank plans to further expand into non-deliverable forwards in the near future.

The offering allows institutional clients to access cryptocurrency markets through existing FX platforms, with settlement options that include third-party and in-house custodians.

The move is part of a broader push by the bank into the digital asset space. Standard Chartered recently launched a collateral mirroring initiative with exchange OKX, enabling the use of digital assets and tokenised funds as off-exchange collateral.

Group Chief Executive Bill Winters commented on the initiative: "As client demand accelerates further, we want to offer clients a route to transact, trade and manage digital asset risk safely and efficiently within regulatory requirements."