Banks hand in hand with cryptos – Standard Chartered Ventures, the innovation arm of Standard Chartered Bank, has announced a partnership with BC Technology Group to offer digital asset brokerage and exchange services in the UK and Europe.
Over a century of banking history in the crypto market
Standard Chartered is one of the oldest British financial institutions. Its history dates back to a royal grant given by the Queen of England in 1853. The current Standard Chartered was formed from the merger between the Chartered Bank of India and Standard Bank in 1969. With 150 years of history behind it, the bank has over 1,200 offices in 70 countries.
Buoyed by results from its Asian arm, Standard Chartered had a strong first quarter of 2021. With profits of $1.8 billion, the bank posted 18% profit growth over the fourth quarter of 2020. Indeed, back in December 2020, Standard Chartered began its foray into digital assets with the launch of its Zodia Custody service. The secular British bank is now tackling digital asset brokerage.
An institutional-only exchange
Standard Chartered hopes to launch its exchange during the fourth quarter of 2021. To do so, SC Ventures and BC Group will create a joint venture in the UK that will initially target European markets. It will connect institutional traders to counterparties trading multiple digital assets, such as bitcoin and ether.
“We firmly believe that digital assets are here to stay and will be adopted by the institutional market as a relevant asset class. ”
Alex Manson, Director of SC Ventures
The European firm will use Standard Chartered’s global network and brokerage experience to provide market access, while BC Group will provide the underlying technology. In addition, Standard Chartered’s digital asset custody service, Zodia Custody, has been selected to provide custody.
Standard Chartered thus joins JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs in the inner circle of banking giants that have taken the digital asset turn. With the growing demand for exposure to this market from their clients, the big banks can no longer ignore Bitcoin and its ecosystem.
