Standard Chartered prepared to launch a crypto prime brokerage service that will sit inside its venture and innovation arm, SC Ventures, the bank said.
The prime-brokerage plan was described as an institutional suite covering custody, market access and financing, with an initial emphasis on spot crypto trading. Standard Chartered had already begun offering spot trading for Bitcoin and Ethereum through its UK branch in july and SC Ventures had launched complementary initiatives in december, including Project37C, a joint venture focused on custody, tokenization and market access.
The bank also expanded its institutional footprint through a partnership with Coinbase in december, to develop custody, staking and lending capabilities, and by backing infrastructure providers such as Zodia Custody and Zodia Markets.
Placing prime brokerage inside SC Ventures allows Standard Chartered to combine product development and venture-style partnerships without putting permissionless crypto exposures directly on the regulated banking balance sheet.
The decision to incubate the product within SC Ventures reflects a capital-management choice by the bank and signals an expanded institutional push after earlier roll-outs of spot trading and strategic partnerships.
Regulatory and capital rationale
Sources cited the bank’s desire to limit the immediate capital hit from current prudential rules when explaining the structure. Basel III frameworks, finalised in late 2022, apply an elevated risk weighting to permissionless cryptoassets — commonly cited as a 1.250% charge — that sharply increases capital requirements if a regulated bank holds such assets on its balance sheet.
By housing the service within its venture arm, Standard Chartered is managing regulatory capital mechanics while still offering services to institutional clients. Reports noted that a definitive public launch date had not been fixed and that discussions remained at an early stage; public statements did not provide a timetable.
For institutional users, the move promises consolidated execution and custody from a global bank while shifting certain balance-sheet exposures into an innovation vehicle. That structure could speed product rollout but will keep regulators and large counterparties focused on how risks and liabilities are allocated between the bank and its venture unit.
Investors and clients are likely to watch for the bank’s public timeline and any disclosures that clarify legal ownership, settlement arrangements and where counterparty credit risk ultimately sits.
Those details will determine whether the offering meaningfully expands institutional liquidity and whether it changes the calculus for custodial or financing counterparties in the near term.
