Standard Chartered, one of UK’s largest banks with over $720 billion in total assets, is set to launch a cryptocurrency Trading Platform geared towards deep-pocket investors, with a pilot planned for later next year.
CoinDesk reported the news on Tuesday, saying that the bank has engaged prominent crypto players including ErisX, which is backed by US brokerage TD Ameritrade and holds two different regulatory designations. Other participants include LMAX, which operates institutional venues for FX and cryptocurrency trading, as well as Switzerland-based crypto custodian Metaco and UK trading technology provider, Cobalt.
“Standard Chartered plus five of the biggest traders in digital assets and four exchanges are about to get this new model started. I think the first test trade will be next month and I’d say it’ll end up involving the 10 biggest exchanges in digital,” said the source.
“We are building our own token of fiat collateral and hoping that will become the equivalent of Tether, except that the tokenized collateral or money will be held in the trading bank account of a proper bank, like a Standard Chartered, a JPMorgan, a Deutsche Bank,” the source further explained.
Standard Chartered to Launch Crypto Custody
Just yesterday, Standard Charted CEO, Bill Winters stated that very soon the multinational banking giant will either offer Cryptocurrencies through its platform or launch a private currency of their own.
During a virtual FinTech festival in Singapore, Winters added that the widespread adoption of digital currencies is “absolutely inevitable,” and added that SC will announce further news “along these lines.” Many believed that Winter’s comments on cryptocurrencies suggest that SC might be in the works of launching their own private digital currency.
Complementing its crypto ambitions, SC Ventures was reportedly building a crypto custody offering for the institutional market. The bank's ventures and innovation platform has also participated in a $17 million Series A funding round for Switzerland-based Metaco, which runs an institutional operating system for digital assets.
Standard Charted is not the only financial institution exploring the potential of cryptocurrencies as part of its efforts to modernize the legacy payment systems. Furthermore, Goldman Sachs said it might consider launching a cryptocurrency after JPMorgan Chase has become the first US bank to launch its own digital token.
