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0 CommentsMajor bank Standard Chartered is launching a cryptocurrency exchange and brokerage platform, giving its clients access to crypto assets, like Bitcoin and Ether. Standard Chartered gets in a growing list of major banking corporations worldwide that have accepted cryptocurrency.
On Wednesday, the bank declared that a Standard Chartered PLC unit aims to start a cryptocurrency brokerage and exchange desk in the U.K. and Europe, targeting institutional clients.
Standard Chartered PLC said that the bank’s innovation unit, SC Ventures, will establish a joint venture with BC Technology Group, Hong Kong-based investment company, which specializes in digital assets. BC Technology operates OSL, the first cryptocurrency exchange to be licensed by Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission.
“We have a strong conviction that digital assets are here to stay and will be adopted by the institutional market as a highly relevant asset class,” head of SC Ventures Alex Manson said. He added: “We are constructing the building blocks for a safe and reliable investment infrastructure.”
Based in Britain, Standard Chartered’s new cryptocurrency exchange platform and service will target the European market. The bank said it intends to bridge institutional investors with Bitcoin, Ether, and other digital assets traders, adding that it aims to launch the new service in Q4.
Standard Chartered gets in a growing list of major financial market players that have accepted Bitcoin, like Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and DBS.
Meanwhile, the announcement by a StanChart unit followed shortly after HSBC CEO Noel Quinn stated that his bank has no plans to launch a Bitcoin trading platform or any other cryptocurrency features. HSBC has also made changes in its policy to prohibit clients from holding stocks of the public companies that are strongly related to the crypto sector, such as Microstrategy.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/technology/stanchart-unit-launch-cryptocurrency-trading-venture-2021-06-02/
