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

The bank said eligible institutional clients will be able to use the service, which is the first of its kind in the country. With the launch, Standard Chartered becomes the first Global Systemically Important Bank to offer institutional bitcoin trading in the UAE.

JUST IN: Standard Chartered Bank becomes first Global Systemically Important Bank to launch institutional Bitcoin trading in the UAE pic.twitter.com/yeOMtcO7bo — Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) September 3, 2026

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

That framework has taken shape through regulators such as Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), established in 2022, and the Abu Dhabi Global Market's financial centre, which have issued virtual asset rules and licensing regimes. The resulting regulatory clarity has made the UAE a destination for global crypto firms and financial institutions expanding digital asset services.

"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," Abu Manneh added.

The move builds on the bank's earlier digital asset activity in the region. In 2024, Standard Chartered launched digital asset custody services in the UAE, months before it debuted spot crypto trading in other countries.

In 2025, the bank 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 bank's forex trading operation. That same year, Standard Chartered debuted a blockchain unit called Libeara to help institutions tokenize traditional assets.

While most major global banks have stayed away from directly trading cryptocurrencies, a small number have moved into the area in recent years, and Standard Chartered's UAE launch signals how digital asset services are increasingly extending beyond Western financial centres into Gulf markets. Whether other G-SIBs follow with similar institutional crypto offerings in regulated Middle East jurisdictions is a key question for the sector's development.

The bank has recently argued that bitcoin's price should continue to surge this year. In an August note to investors, Standard Chartered's Global Head of Digital Assets Research, Geoffrey Kendrick, wrote 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," Kendrick wrote, adding that bitcoin's bear market so far has been the shallowest on record.

This post first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo. Source: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/news/standard-chartered-debuts-bitcoin-trading