Standard Chartered to launch spot trading desk for bitcoin and ether: Bloomberg

Standard Chartered is close to starting operations on its own spot crypto trading desk for bitcoin and ether, according to a report.

On Friday, Bloomberg reported that sources familiar with the matter revealed that the British multinational bank plans to enter the spot crypto trading market as part of its FX unit. According to the report, this crypto trading desk will be run from London.

“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, reported by Bloomberg.

Standard Chartered is one of several large banks expanding its involvement in the cryptocurrency market as institutional adoption of the sector increases. The bank 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.

In November, Standard Chartered launched a blockchain unit called Libeara to assist institutions with the tokenization of real-world assets. This includes supporting the deployment of a tokenized government bond fund using the Singaporean dollar.

Bitcoin’s price decreased by over 2% in the past 24 hours and was changing hands for $64,203 at 5:58 a.m. ET, according to The Block’s price page. The GMCI 30 index, representing a selection of the top 30 cryptocurrencies, decreased by 1.97% to 129.86 in the same period.