Multinational bank Standard Chartered announced Thursday that it had debuted bitcoin spot trading for institutional clients in the United ‌Arab Emirates. 

The bank said that eligible institutional clients would be able to use the service — the first of its kind in the country. 

Standard Chartered in 2024 launched digital asset custody services in the UAE, months before it debuted spot crypto trading in other countries. 

“The UAE has developed a clear digital assets regulatory framework that supports institutional participation and innovation,” Rola Abu Manneh, Chief Executive Officer, UAE, Middle East and Pakistan at Standard Chartered, said.

He added: “By combining execution with secure custody, governance and the connectivity of a global bank, we are providing clients with a more integrated way to participate in digital asset markets.”

Standard Chartered in 2025 set up a trading desk for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in London, making it one of the first global banks to enter spot cryptocurrency trading.

The crypto desk became part of the forex trading operation. The bank the same year debuted a blockchain unit called Libeara to help institutions tokenize traditional assets. 

Standard Chartered has lately said that bitcoin’s price should continue to surge this year. Writing in an August note to investors, the bank’s Global Head of Digital Assets Research, Geoffrey Kendrick, said that a $100,000 price forecast by year-end was too low. 

“Once investors remember how quickly prices can accelerate to the topside, and we get past the 6 October date (12 months after the all-time high) an overshoot towards the all-time high (USD126k) before year-end may be possible,” he said, adding that bitcoin’s bear market so far has been the shallowest on record.