Standard Chartered Brings Institutional Crypto Trading to UAE
Standard Chartered has launched institutional Bitcoin and Ether spot trading in the UAE through its DIFC branch, becoming the first Global Systemically Important Bank to offer this service in the country.
The service allows eligible institutional clients to trade deliverable BTC/USD and ETH/USD through the bank's existing electronic trading channels, using the same FX interfaces their treasury desks already use for dollars, euros, and yen.
What sets this apart is that it's a custodian-agnostic solution, allowing clients to use whichever custodian they want, including Standard Chartered's own UAE digital asset custody service, which went live in September 2024.
This launch extends a capability already tested in the UK, where Standard Chartered first rolled out institutional Bitcoin and Ether spot trading through its UK branch in July 2025.