Standard Chartered Plc is developing early-stage plans to launch a cryptocurrency prime brokerage service aimed at institutional clients, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter. The London-based bank, which manages approximately $389 billion in assets, intends to house this new business within its wholly-owned innovation arm, SC Ventures.
The proposed prime brokerage would offer institutional traders a comprehensive suite of services including custody, financing, trading, and clearing for digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), along with other cryptocurrencies. A strategic motivation for placing the operation under SC Ventures is to navigate stringent banking capital regulations. Specifically, this structure could allow Standard Chartered to avoid the punitive 1,250% risk charge imposed by Basel III rules on bank balance sheets holding "permissionless" cryptoassets like BTC and ETH.
This initiative represents a significant expansion of Standard Chartered's growing footprint in digital assets. The bank has been one of the most active global financial institutions in the sector. Its previous moves include being a backer of crypto custodian Zodia Custody and institutional trading venue Zodia Markets. In July 2025, it became the first global systemically important bank to offer spot crypto trading for institutional clients. More recently, SC Ventures hinted at a broader digital-asset platform called "Project37C" in a December LinkedIn post, described as a "light financing and markets platform."
The plans are still in early discussions, with no confirmed launch timeline. The sources requested anonymity as the details are not yet public.
The move by Standard Chartered aligns with a broader acceleration of crypto involvement by major Wall Street banks. JPMorgan Chase & Co. is reportedly considering offering crypto trading to institutional clients, building on its existing blockchain initiatives. Furthermore, Morgan Stanley recently filed to launch Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana (SOL) exchange-traded funds (ETFs), positioning itself to compete with giants like BlackRock and ARK Invest.
This institutional rush is fueled by a massive influx of capital into the crypto market, particularly through US spot crypto ETFs, which have grown to roughly $140 billion in combined assets under management since their approval two years ago. The report notes that this growth has occurred amid a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment in the US under President Donald Trump's second term, which began in January 2025. Executive orders aimed at providing regulatory clarity, including one to establish a US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and another to form the White House Digital Asset Working Group, have contributed to increased institutional capital inflows and demand for sophisticated trading infrastructure like prime brokerage services.
