The Gulf goes to the banking spot. Standard Chartered opens access to Bitcoin and ether spot trading to UAE institutional investors. The offer is deployed from the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), under the supervision of the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). The British bank thus becomes the first globally systemically important bank to offer this service in the Emirates and, according to its press release, the only international bank currently offering institutional spot trading of digital assets in the region.
Key Points
Standard Chartered extends its spot trading offer on bitcoin and ether to the United Arab Emirates, reserved for institutional clients
The offer is reserved for eligible institutional clients and regulated by the DIFC
Orders go through the bank's usual electronic platforms and exchange interfaces
Clients can hold their assets with the custodian of their choice, including Standard Chartered
Bitcoin and Ethereum integrated into existing banking tools
The offer covers BTC/USD and ETH/USD pairs. These are not derivative contracts settled in dollars, but deliverable spot transactions: once the order is executed, the client actually receives the bitcoins or ethers purchased.
Standard Chartered seeks above all to integrate cryptocurrencies with the tools already used by traditional trading rooms. Eligible institutional clients can place their orders from the bank's electronic platforms, through interfaces similar to those used to trade currencies.
Regulation, however, remains separate from execution. Each customer can choose the custodian to hold the purchased assets, including the digital asset custody service launched by Standard Chartered in the Emirates in September 2024.
This organization allows asset managers, companies and other professional investors to access Bitcoin and Ethereum without going directly through a native crypto platform. At the same time, they benefit from the governance, compliance and risk management procedures of an international banking group.
Standard Chartered expands its crypto offering launched in London
This establishment in the Emirates continues an activity inaugurated in the United Kingdom in July 2025. Standard Chartered then became the first global systemically important bank, or G-SIB, to offer deliverable spot trading of bitcoin and ether to its institutional clients.
A G-SIB is an institution whose size, activities and connections to the rest of the financial sector are such that its failure could threaten the stability of the global system. This status imposes in particular reinforced requirements in terms of capital and supervision.
The choice of the Emirates also responds to the gradual construction of a regulatory framework dedicated to digital assets. From the DIFC, Standard Chartered can now combine order execution and its custody offering within the same regulated environment:
âBy combining execution with secure custody, governance and the connectivity of a global bank, we offer our clients a more integrated way to participate in digital asset marketsâ
Rola Abu Manneh, Standard Chartered Managing Director for UAE, Middle East and Pakistan â Source: CP
The bank is also developing activities in custody, trading and tokenization, notably through its investment banking division and its participations in Zodia Markets and Libeara.
