Standard Chartered, one of the world's largest banks, is set to launch a spot trading service for Bitcoin and Ether. It appears that this initiative responds to growing demand from institutional clients.
Bitcoin and Ethereum are becoming more institutionalized
Since the start of 2024, Bitcoin and Ethereum have attracted great interest from institutional investors, mainly thanks to ETFs approved by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has contributed to the strong increase in the prices of the 2 main cryptocurrencies on the market.
Indeed, since the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024, the price of BTC has increased by around 40%, going from $45,500 to $63,500 today. For its part, Ether has gained almost 14% since rumors of the approval of Ethereum spot ETFs a few days before their real validation, with ETH having fallen from $3,050 to $3,500 today.
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Bloomberg revealed earlier today that Standard Chartered, one of the world's largest banks, is set to launch a service for buying and selling Bitcoin and Ether. If this product actually sees the light of day, it would make Standard Chartered one of the first international banks to offer spot trading of cryptocurrencies.
According to Bloomberg's sources, the service is about to launch and is expected to be managed by the bank's London entity. Moreover, these new trading pairs will be integrated into the Forex section, where fiat currencies are usually traded.
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Standard Chartered launches Bitcoin and Ether trading at the request of their clients
In an email exchange, Standard Chartered reportedly said in a statement that this service met the demand of several of their clients. Bloomberg quotes:
“We have worked closely with our regulators to meet the demand from our institutional clients to trade Bitcoin and Ethereum, in line with our strategy to support our clients across the digital asset ecosystem, from access and custody to tokenization and interoperability »
The fact that several customers have requested access to this service clearly shows the appeal of Bitcoin and Ethereum from investors around the world, as these requests relate to spot assets and not their representations. This means that investors are interested enough in these assets to request a spot trade, and that the spot Bitcoin ETFs launched earlier this year were not enough.
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Thus, Standard Chartered is investing more in cryptocurrencies. The bank already held shares in Zodia Custody and Zodia Markets to offer custody and over-the-counter trading services. In November 2023, it launched the Libeara blockchain service, aimed at helping with the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), including supporting the creation of a Singapore dollar government bond fund.
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Source: Bloomberg
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First attracted by the lure of gain, I am now trapped deep into the rabbit hole. With no way out, I just have to share my knowledge and convey the passion I have for the world of blockchain. I am also the creator of Adopt a Block, an educational site dedicated to Bitcoin.
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