Standard Chartered has launched a service for wealthy clients in the United Arab Emirates that allows direct trading of bitcoin and ether.

Blockchain media outlet Decrypt reported on Oct. 14 that the service is approved by Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) and will initially be offered to clients who qualify as professional investors.

Eligible clients can buy and sell bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) through their existing bank accounts. They can trade without using a separate wallet or an external trading platform, and Standard Chartered also handles custody and settlement. The bank said it operates the service as a closed structure within its own ecosystem, from trading to custody to settlement. This method can reduce risks associated with using external wallets.

The service was built jointly by Standard Chartered’s wealth management and retail banking division and its corporate and investment banking division. Zodia Markets, a digital asset trading firm backed by SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s venture investment arm, is participating as a partner. Standard Chartered introduced the launch as its first global case and plans to expand the service to other markets. It did not disclose a specific timeline. It also stressed that this is the first case of an international bank offering crypto trading services in the UAE.

Samir Subberwal (사미르 서버월), head of wealth management solutions, retail products, data and analytics at Standard Chartered, said the launch marks an important milestone in bringing digital assets into its core wealth management product lineup as client interest grows. He said clients value safety and trust in investing through regulated financial institutions beyond simple access to trading. Rola Abu Manneh (롤라 아부 만네), Standard Chartered’s chief executive officer for the UAE, Middle East and Pakistan, said the UAE is a market with a regulatory environment and one of Standard Chartered’s four global wealth management hubs.

The launch means Standard Chartered’s crypto trading business, which had been centred on institutions, has expanded to wealthy clients. In July 2025, Standard Chartered offered spot trading in bitcoin and ether to institutional clients through its UK branch. Last month, it expanded institutional trading services to the UAE through its entity in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). That entity is supervised by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), not VARA.

It has also expanded its custody business. Standard Chartered launched crypto custody services in the UAE in September 2024, and a few months later started the service in the European Union through its Luxembourg entity. For wealth management clients, it had already offered indirect investment tools such as crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) via its cash equities platform, structured products and over-the-counter derivatives linked to crypto prices. The new service differs in that it is not a price-tracking product and clients hold actual bitcoin and ether, with the bank acting as custodian.

Standard Chartered has also maintained an optimistic outlook on the crypto market. Geoff Kendrick (제프 켄드릭), head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, assessed last June that the “crypto winter” was over even when bitcoin prices fell to around $59,000. Standard Chartered is maintaining its $100,000 bitcoin target for the end of this year.