Standard Chartered crypto trading has been growing in the UAE, with the financial institution now allowing spot trading for Bitcoin and Ethereum in DIFC.
The bank announced on Thursday that it has become the first global systemically important bank to provide institutional spot trading in the UAE with cryptocurrency. Clients who are eligible will be able to buy and sell cryptocurrencies of Bitcoin and Ethereum via the trading platforms of Standard Chartered’s existing FX.
The product launch has expanded the bank’s range of digital assets offerings in the UAE from custody to trading. Customers are able to execute trades using any custodian that they wish, including Standard Chartered’s own digital assets custody offering in the DIFC.
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Standard Chartered Crypto Trading Expands
The newly created Standard Chartered crypto trading platform caters to institutions and asset managers that want regulated access to digital currencies.
Customers will be able to make their trades via the bank’s single-dealer trading platform, as well as FIX connectivity. The service will run using the existing infrastructure at Standard Chartered.
UAE launch comes after the bank offers deliverable spot Bitcoin and Ether trades via its UK subsidiary in July 2025. This product represents the first foray into institutional cryptocurrency trades for the bank and is embedded in its foreign exchange systems.
This UAE facility offers the same trading approach to the DIFC, which is one of the leading financial hubs in the Gulf region.
From Crypto Custody to Trading
Standard Chartered began offering digital-asset services in the UAE market in September 2024 following authorization by the DFSA to offer digital-asset custody in the DIFC.
The two main currencies offered at launch included Bitcoin and Ether, with Brevan Howard Digital being the bank’s first client to use the digital-asset custody service.
Since then, Standard Chartered has been expanding its digital-asset offerings. In July, the bank partnered with Circle to launch a solution for eligible institutional clients to access USDC minting and redemption without having Circle accounts.
Standard Chartered Bank has collaborated with OKX to launch a non-exchange collateral scheme in Dubai. The eligible customers will be able to hold crypto assets and tokenized money market fund assets in Standard Chartered and use them as collateral on OKX.
Institutional Crypto Access
Standard Chartered Crypto Trading offers another way to access spot crypto markets using conventional banking services.
Spot trading means buying and selling the actual crypto asset for delivery as opposed to derivatives, which offer price exposure without necessarily delivering the asset.
The Standard Chartered Crypto Trading product allows separation of trade execution and custody. Traders will be able to execute their trades via the bank while settling with their chosen custodian.
Currently, the Standard Chartered Crypto Trading product in the UAE is offered only to institutional customers and includes just Bitcoin and Ether as the first traded assets.
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