Standard Chartered to Launch Direct Bitcoin and Ether Trading for Wealthy UAE Clients

The bank manages custody and internal settlement through a closed-loop model, eliminating the need for separate crypto wallets.

Standard Chartered started offering crypto trading to wealthy UAE clients, enabling the purchase of Bitcoin and Ether through bank accounts.

The bank manages internal custody and settlement through a closed-loop model, eliminating the need for separate crypto wallets.

With the approval of the license in Dubai, it expands on previous institutional digital asset offerings from the UK and the UAE.

Standard Chartered (STAN) introduced a crypto trading service for wealthy clients in the United Arab Emirates that allows qualified investors to buy and sell Bitcoin BTC $83,478.64 and Ether Ether $2,517.68 through their existing bank accounts.

The service will initially be available to customers classified as professional investors and the London-based lender said it was the first of its kind to be offered by an international bank in the UAE.

According to the bank, this is a world first for Standard Chartered, as it is the first to offer cryptocurrency trading directly to affluent clients in any market.

According to the bank, it will manage custody and settlement in its ecosystem using a closed-loop model, meaning customers will not need separate cryptocurrency wallets or third-party trading platforms.

It brings together Standard Chartered's wealth and retail banking and corporate and investment banking businesses and operates through Zodia Markets, which is backed by the bank's SC Ventures unit.

Standard Chartered announced that it has received a license from Dubai's Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA).

The bank introduced institutional trading of Bitcoin and Ether through its UK arm in July last year and expanded the offering to the UAE on September 3.