Standard Chartered has launched direct cryptocurrency trading for affluent clients in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), allowing eligible investors to buy and sell bitcoin and ether through their existing bank accounts. The London-based lender said the service will initially be available to clients classified as professional investors, describing it the first offering of its kind by an international bank in the UAE.

Professional investor status is a regulatory classification generally reserved for clients who meet defined thresholds for assets, experience, or sophistication, and who receive fewer conduct protections than retail customers. Standard Chartered is a British banking group headquartered in London, with operations spanning Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and other international markets.

The announcement was publicized by cryptocurrency news outlet BitKE on X:

Standard Chartered launches crypto trading for UAE professional investors @StanChart has launched a cryptocurrency trading service in the United Arab Emirates allowing eligible clients to buy and sell #Bitcoin and #Ether through their existing bank accounts. The service will initially be available to clients classified as professional investors, the London-based lender said, describing it as the first offering of its kind by an international bank in the UAE. #CryptoUAE #CryptoStanChart #BitcoinUAE #EthereumUAE

— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) October 14, 2026

Source post on X

The rollout follows the bank's receipt of licensing approval from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), the watchdog established in 2022 to license and supervise virtual asset activities in the emirate. Under the new service, Standard Chartered will manage custody and settlement within its own system through a closed-loop model, eliminating the need for clients to hold separate crypto wallets or use third-party trading platforms. That closed-loop arrangement keeps digital-asset custody and settlement inside the bank's regulated environment, in contrast to conventional crypto trading, which typically requires moving funds to external exchanges or personal wallets.

The offering was developed through the bank's Wealth and Retail Banking and Corporate and Investment Banking divisions, working alongside Zodia Markets, a digital-asset business backed by Standard Chartered's venture arm, SC Ventures.

Standard Chartered described the launch as the first cryptocurrency trading service for affluent clients in its global operations, as well as the first of its kind offered by an international bank in the UAE. The bank plans to expand the service to other markets but has not provided a timetable, and it has not said whether access will eventually widen beyond professional investors.

The move extends Standard Chartered's digital-asset business beyond institutional trading and its existing investment products, which include cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives.

The launch marks the bank's latest step in the UAE. In September 2026, Standard Chartered launched institutional spot trading in bitcoin and ether in the country, following its introduction of similar services in the United Kingdom in 2025. That sequence moves the bank's digital-asset services from institutional clients toward its wealth-management customer base.

The latest offering reflects broader efforts by traditional banks to bring cryptocurrency trading and custody into established wealth-management services as demand for regulated access to digital assets grows. Bitcoin and ether are the world's two largest cryptocurrencies by market value. The UAE, for its part, has sought to strengthen its position as a hub for digital-asset businesses under its virtual-asset regulatory framework, as it competes with other jurisdictions to attract licensed crypto firms.

Source: BitcoinKE