Standard Chartered Becomes First Major Bank to Offer Regulated Bitcoin and Ethereum Trading

Standard Chartered Bank has enabled institutional clients to trade in Bitcoin and Ethereum, according to a press release.

The major British financial conglomerate has become the first systemically important institution to launch regulated cryptocurrency trading with physical delivery.

Corporate clients of Standard Chartered, along with investment funds and asset managers, can transact in the XBT/USD and XET/USD pairs via the bank’s standard FX interface in its UK division.

Bill Winters, the CEO of Standard Chartered, commented, «The demand for regulated digital asset solutions is increasing, and we are prepared to provide clients with the necessary tools.»

For settlements, both third-party custodians and Standard Chartered’s proprietary custody service, Zodia Custody, which was launched in 2020, are available.

In the near future, the bank also plans to introduce non-deliverable forwards (NDF) for settlements.

Experts from Wintermute have identified significant differences in investment strategies between retail and institutional players amid the bullish market, as reported by The Block.

Large investors are significantly increasing their exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum, with approximately 70% of their portfolios allocated to these two high-cap cryptocurrencies. In contrast, retail investors have seen this figure drop to 37%.

«This is not a temporary trend, but rather a sign of market maturity. Institutions view crypto assets as macro assets, while retail investors continue to seek high-yield but risky opportunities,» said Wintermute’s CEO, Evgeny Gaevoy.

Among retail investors, newer meme coins like BONK, WIF, and POPCAT are particularly popular. The «veterans» DOGE, SHIB, and PEPE continue to lead the GMCI MEME index.

Currently, multiple applications for launching spot Dogecoin ETFs are under consideration by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Wintermute analysts believe that a positive ruling from the regulator could further boost retail demand for meme tokens.

It’s worth noting that in May, Standard Chartered partnered with cryptocurrency broker FalconX.