Standard Chartered Launches Bitcoin Trading for Institutions in UAE

Standard Chartered, a multinational bank, said on Thursday that it has begun offering bitcoin spot trading to institutional clients in the United Arab Emirates, becoming the first globally systemically important bank to do so in the country.

The service is available to eligible institutional clients, the bank noted, and is the first of its kind in the nation.

In 2024, Standard Chartered introduced digital asset custody services in the UAE, preceding the launch of spot crypto trading in other countries by a few months.

“The UAE has developed a clear digital assets regulatory framework that supports institutional participation and innovation,” said Rola Abu Manneh, Chief Executive Officer for the UAE, Middle East and Pakistan at Standard Chartered.

He added: “By combining execution with secure custody, governance and the connectivity of a global bank, we are providing clients with a more integrated way to participate in digital asset markets.”

In 2025, Standard Chartered established a trading desk in London for bitcoin and other digital currencies, becoming one of the earliest global banks to engage in spot cryptocurrency trading.

That crypto desk was integrated into the bank's forex trading operation. Also in 2025, Standard Chartered launched a blockchain unit named Libeara, aimed at assisting institutions with tokenizing traditional assets.

Standard Chartered has recently predicted that bitcoin's price will keep rising this year. In an August investor note, Geoffrey Kendrick, the bank's Global Head of Digital Assets Research, stated that the $100,000 price target for year-end was insufficient.

“Once investors remember how quickly prices can accelerate to the topside, and we get past the 6 October date (12 months after the all-time high) an overshoot towards the all-time high (USD126k) before year-end may be possible,” he said, adding that bitcoin’s bear market so far has been the shallowest on record.