Standard Chartered announced Wednesday that it has launched direct Bitcoin and Ethereum trading for affluent clients in the United Arab Emirates. The service operates under licensing approval from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) and is available to clients classified as Professional Investors.
The offering enables eligible clients to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum through their existing bank accounts without needing separate wallets or third-party platforms. Standard Chartered handles custody and settlement through what it describes as a closed-loop model, which the bank says reduces clients' exposure to third-party wallet risk.
The bank built the product in partnership with Zodia Markets, a digital asset trading firm backed by Standard Chartered's venture arm, SC Ventures. Trades are executed within the bank's own ecosystem, with the service developed across the bank's Wealth and Retail Banking and Corporate and Investment Banking divisions.
Standard Chartered calls this a global first for the bank and the first crypto trading offering from an international bank in the UAE. The bank plans to expand the service to other markets, though no timeline has been provided.
The UAE launch follows the bank's expansion into institutional crypto trading. In July 2025, Standard Chartered became the first globally systemically important bank to offer spot trading in Bitcoin and Ethereum to institutional clients through its U.K. branch. That institutional desk was later brought to the UAE through the bank's unit in the Dubai International Financial Centre in the following month. The bank's crypto custody service had already launched in the UAE in September 2024.
Wealth clients previously had indirect routes to crypto exposure through the bank, including crypto exchange-traded funds, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives tied to crypto prices. The new service allows clients to own the coins directly, held by the bank.
