Is Standard Chartered Setting Up Bitcoin, Ether Trading Desk?

Multinational bank Standard Chartered may be working to open a Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) trading desk.

If operational, this would make the bank one of the first international banking institutions to venture into crypto trading.

Standard chart on BTC and ETH trading table

On June 21st, Bloomberg reported that the crypto desk will soon be operational. Citing anonymous sources, the report indicates that the offer will be under the bank's FX business unit and will be from London, England.

Cointelegraph reached out to Standard Chartered, but the bank neither confirmed nor denied the report. However, the bank stated that there has been demand from customers to access BTC and ETH. They wrote:

“We have been working closely with our regulators to support the demand from our institutional clients to trade Bitcoin and Ethereum.”

A Standard Chartered representative declined to comment further.

The crypto community celebrates the banking potential of crypto activity.

While Standard Chartered did not confirm the move, members of the crypto community celebrated the potential development.

The Twitter user believes the move could be a “critical step” and a big boost to crypto's growing legitimacy. Additionally, the user believes this can boost investor confidence and drive adoption. Another user echoed the sentiment and said that BTC and ETH trading could see more mainstream adoption due to the new development.

Meanwhile, Binance CEO Richard Teng went on X to welcome the multinational bank to crypto.

Another member of the community believes that the bank is preparing to serve the big players in traditional finance, predicting that more money will flow into BTC.

Related: Standard Chartered Expects SEC to Greenlight Space Ether ETF This Week

Goldman Sachs clients are jumping into crypto.

In addition to Standard Chartered, multinational bank Goldman Sachs has revealed that many of its clients are showing renewed interest in crypto assets this year.

On March 24, Goldman Sachs CEO Max Minton highlighted that clients are exploring the crypto sector. Minton said the approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States has rekindled institutional interest.

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