3 min read
British banking giant Standard Chartered became the first "too big to fail" bank to offer Bitcoin and Ethereum trading through traditional currency platforms on Tuesday, crossing a line that its peers have cautiously approached for years.
The bank will run Bitcoin and Ethereum spot trading services for institutional clients from its U.K. branch, enabling them to execute trades through the same foreign exchange systems they already use.
“Digital assets are a foundational element of the evolution in financial services,” Bill Winters, group chief executive at the bank, said in a statement. The move, he said, opens “new pathways for innovation, greater inclusion and growth."
Asked about how the service differs from retail platforms, Standard Chartered told Decrypt its solution is “built for corporate and institutional clients,” noting that the end-to-end service “allows for flexible settlement” to either the bank’s proprietary custodian or a client’s provider of choice.
It also told Decrypt the launch had been three years in the making and was driven by rising demand from institutional clients for secure, regulated access to digital assets. The move “reinforces [its] commitment to innovation,” the bank said, while ensuring clients benefit from institutional-grade risk controls and regulatory oversight.
Unlike crypto exchanges that require separate accounts and systems, Standard Chartered's approach integrates digital assets into the platform's treasury departments, which fund managers use daily for trading dollars, euros, and yen.
Through it, clients can settle their crypto trades with any custodian they choose. The bank also offers its own regulated custody service, launched in the UAE last year and Europe this January. It later expanded those offerings through a partnership with FalconX in May.
Standard Chartered's entry to spot crypto trading is "unequivocally validating the growing demand from traditional finance for regulated, deliverable crypto trading solutions," Charmaine Tam, head of OTC sales and trading at Hex Trust, a digital asset financial institution based in Hong Kong, told Decrypt.
Tam pointed to a "convergence of TradFi and digital assets," which shows how the sector's ecosystem has matured as established players like Standard Chartered "tailor their offerings" to meet the sophisticated needs of institutional clients.
While the launch marks a first for a bank of its stature, Tam views the move as part of a broader shift among institutions exploring crypto, seeking "diverse ways to manage risk and gain exposure.”
The development signals a more decisive direction and momentum toward "full integration within mainstream financial infrastructure,” Tam claimed.
Comparing it to brokerage platforms such as Robinhood, Tam said the offering “complements existing spot BTC or ETH ETFs by offering an additional, direct trading rail” for institutions, through infrastructure they’re already familiar with.
While retail platforms “opened the door for millions,” an offering from Standard Chartered, by contrast, “paves the way for deeper institutional confidence,” Tam said.
Tam sees particular significance in Standard Chartered’s status as a “G-SIB,” or Global Systemically Important Bank.
StanChart is one of just 29 such institutions designated by the Financial Stability Board as ostensibly “too big to fail,” meaning their collapse could threaten global financial stability.
These institutions face the world's toughest banking rules, including extra capital requirements, loss-absorbing buffers, and strict crisis planning.
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