Standard Chartered Launches Spot Crypto Trading with Bitcoin & Ether Desk

Standard Chartered is making a splash by diving into spot crypto trading, allowing you to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ether directly. And yes – this is a big deal.

This makes it one of the first global banks to venture into spot crypto trading, which has been traditionally overshadowed by crypto derivatives. The new trading desk will operate from London and will be part of the bank’s FX trading unit, starting operations soon.

Read more about this below.

Expanding Into Crypto

According to Bloomberg, Standard Chartered has been working closely with regulators to ensure compliance, addressing the growing demand from institutional clients to trade Bitcoin and Ethereum. This move supports the bank’s strategy to help clients across the digital asset ecosystem, offering services like access, custody, tokenization, and interoperability.

The global banking giant has been diving into different crypto-related fields. Recently Mastercard and Standard Chartered Hong Kong completed its first live experiment on the tokenization of deposits using the Mastercard Multi-Token Network (MTN).

Notably, Standard Chartered holds stakes in digital asset firms, Zodia Custody and Zodia Markets and has offered crypto custody and institutional crypto trading through them. 

Bold Predictions for Bitcoin’s Future

Standard Chartered has updated its 2024 Bitcoin price prediction to $150,000, up from $100,000. They believe the price could stabilize around $200,000 after this peak, with a potential all-time high of $250,000 by 2025.

Also Read: Crypto Market Crash: Whales Are Targeting These Three Altcoins

With Standard Chartered offering a new entry point, is it time to consider adding crypto to your investment portfolio?