As the cryptocurrency market continues to witness increased institutional adoption, Standard Chartered, the British multinational bank, is gearing up to enter the spot crypto trading space. According to a report by Bloomberg, the bank is close to launching its own spot trading desk for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), which will be operated from London as part of its FX unit.
“We have been working closely with our regulators to support demand from our institutional clients to trade bitcoin and Ethereum, in line with our strategy to support clients across the wider digital asset ecosystem, from access and custody to tokenization and interoperability,” the bank said in an emailed statement.
This move by Standard Chartered is part of a broader trend of large banks expanding their involvement in the cryptocurrency market as institutional adoption continues to grow. The bank already holds stakes in two digital asset firms, Zodia Custody and Zodia Markets, which provide services ranging from crypto custody to over-the-counter (OTC) trading.
Expanding Digital Asset Ecosystem
In addition to its upcoming spot trading desk, Standard Chartered has also been actively involved in the digital asset ecosystem. In November 2023, the bank launched a blockchain unit called Libeara to assist institutions with the tokenization of real-world assets, including supporting the deployment of a tokenized government bond fund using the Singaporean dollar.
Cryptocurrency Market Performance
At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s price had decreased by over 2% in the past 24 hours, trading at around $64,203. The GMCI 30 index, representing a selection of the top 30 cryptocurrencies, also decreased by 1.97% to 129.86 during the same period.