The London-based bank will develop a crypto prime brokerage through SC Ventures, following the lead of major American banks.
Standard Chartered is planning to launch a dedicated prime brokerage service for digital asset trading, according to Bloomberg. The London-headquartered bank has chosen to place this new operation within SC Ventures, its fully owned venture capital and innovation unit.
This decision allows the bank to position the business outside its main regulated entity, a move that could enable Standard Chartered to avoid the strict capital requirements applied to direct holdings of digital assets by traditional banks.
Under current Basel III regulations, financial institutions must assign a 1,250% risk weight to exposures like Bitcoin—more than three times higher than the 400% applied to certain venture capital investments.
The initiative follows a December announcement on LinkedIn by SC Ventures, which described work on a digital asset joint venture called “Project37C.” The project was presented as a “lightweight financing and markets platform” offering custody, tokenization, and market access.
Standard Chartered’s moves come amid a broader trend of major banks expanding their presence in the digital asset sector, supported by a more permissive regulatory environment in the United States.
Last December, JPMorgan Chase said it is considering offering crypto trading to its institutional clients. Morgan Stanley recently filed applications to launch a spot ETF for Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana, while Bank of New York Mellon activated a tokenized custody service for six institutional clients on January 9.
