Standard Chartered Bank launches BTC and ETH custody services in the UAE amid unclear U.S. regulatory environment

Standard Chartered Bank announced the launch of cryptocurrency custody services for institutional clients in the UAE, with senior executives hinting at regulatory uncertainty in the United States.

Standard Chartered Bank Expands Cryptocurrency Custody Business

Standard Chartered Bank plans to launch BTC and ETH custody services for institutional clients in countries such as the United Arab Emirates in the first quarter of 2024.

This decision appears to be driven by regulatory considerations, as Waqar Chaudry, the Head of Innovation at Standard Chartered, told CoinDesk:

In some very large jurisdictions, we're either seeing regulatory changes happening or the potential for things to change quite quickly. The market maturity is quite different across countries, with some regions not even distinguishing between securities and non-securities assets as the UAE, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong begin to move faster, while some regions have yet to make that distinction.

Standard Chartered: Based in Dubai, Focused on Asia

Chaudry noted that this is a gradual process, starting with custody services in Dubai and expanding to other countries leveraging Standard Chartered Bank's strong presence in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

According to a previous announcement, Standard Chartered signed a memorandum of understanding with the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) in May this year to collaborate on digital asset custody services.

Standard Chartered Bank also recently launched a digital asset custody platform SAF3 for institutional clients in Australia through its subsidiary Zodia Custody.

Standard Chartered's Zodia Custody Launches Digital Asset Custody Platform SAF3 in Australia