Standard Chartered Bank is launching a spot crypto trading desk for Bitcoin and Ether in London, according to a Bloomberg report. The new desk will be part of the bank's FX trading unit.

The desk will operate from London, United Kingdom, under the bank’s FX trading unit. With this move, Standard Chartered became one of the first global banks to enter spot cryptocurrency trading, a space where banks like Goldman Sachs have traditionally dealt in derivatives.

Regulatory Cooperation

Standard Chartered stated that it had been working with regulators to support institutional demand for trading Bitcoin and Ethereum. 

"We have been working closely with our regulators to support demand from our institutional clients to trade Bitcoin and Ethereum, in line with our strategy to support clients across the wider digital asset ecosystem, from access and custody to tokenization and interoperability," the bank said in an email statement.

While Standard Chartered did not confirm the report, the potential launch has attracted significant attention. A Twitter user highlighted this move as a "significant step" that could boost investor confidence and drive adoption.

Binance CEO Richard Teng also took to X (formerly Twitter) to welcome the multinational bank into the crypto space, signaling industry support for this move.

Previously, other banks have traded crypto, but they traded derivatives instead of actual assets due to regulatory requirements. For instance, Bitcoin derivative trading began for Goldman Sachs in 2021, and Bitcoin futures trading in 2020.