Standard Chartered has enabled eligible wealthy clients in the United Arab Emirates to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum directly through their existing bank accounts.
Standard Chartered has begun offering direct cryptocurrency trading to its wealthy clients classified as professional investors in the United Arab Emirates. Under the new service, eligible clients will be able to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum using their existing bank accounts.
According to the bank’s statement, custody and settlement operations will be conducted within the Standard Chartered ecosystem via a closed-loop model. Therefore, customers will not need to create a separate cryptocurrency wallet, store private keys, or open an account on a third-party exchange.
The service combines Standard Chartered’s asset and retail banking units with its corporate and investment banking activities. Transactions are conducted through the Zodia Markets platform, which is backed by the bank’s venture capital arm, SC Ventures.
Standard Chartered announced that it has received the necessary license approval from the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority for the service. The bank states that this product is the first of its kind offered by an international bank in the United Arab Emirates. This also marks Standard Chartered’s first foray into offering cryptocurrency trading directly to wealthy individual clients in any country.
The bank had previously launched institutional Bitcoin and Ethereum spot trading through its UK arm, later expanding its institutional service to the UAE. It also offers crypto ETFs, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives to eligible clients.
It shouldn’t be assumed that the service is open to all individual customers. Users need to meet professional investor requirements, and initially, only Bitcoin and Ethereum are supported. While Standard Chartered has stated its intention to expand the system to other markets, it has not announced any new countries or implementation schedule.
*This is not investment advice.
