Standard Chartered has been granted a licence by Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority to offer cryptocurrency trading directly to clients in the UAE. The bank's onshore UAE entity, which holds a full broker-dealer licence from the regulator, rolled out the new service on October 14, making it available to a defined group of wealth clients.
Under the service, customers who qualify as professional investors can buy and sell Bitcoin and Ether straight from their existing Standard Chartered accounts, without opening a separate crypto wallet or moving funds to another platform. Custody and settlement of the digital assets stay within the bank's own systems, and clients are not able to transfer the assets in or out to external wallets or exchanges.
To access the service, clients need at least four million dirhams, roughly 1.1 million dollars, in net assets excluding their primary residence, along with sufficient investment knowledge and experience, or representation through a licensed entity. Orders can range from fifty dollars up to fifty thousand dollars, with the pricing spread capped at two percent.
The move marks the first time Standard Chartered has offered direct cryptocurrency trading to clients anywhere in the world, and underlines how major international banks are increasingly willing to enter the digital asset space through Dubai's regulatory framework despite continued volatility in crypto markets. Analysts see the licence as further evidence of Dubai's ambition to position itself as one of the world's leading hubs for regulated digital asset business, attracting global banks that have so far kept such services at arm's length from traditional banking channels.