Standard Chartered, BC Group form joint venture to offer cryptocurrency trading in Europe

Standard Chartered’s venture unit will offer bitcoin trading to clients in Europe via a joint venture with Hong Kong-listed BC Group

Move comes as high-street banks increasingly venture into a market now worth over US$1 trillion globally

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The headquarter of Standard Chartered in Central, Hong Kong. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 2:00pm, 3 Jun 2021Updated: 10:11pm, 3 Jun 2021

Standard Chartered has partnered with Hong Kong-based digital asset firm BC Group to set up a UK joint venture that will offer brokerage and exchange trading services for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, as high-street banks increasingly make a foray into the space.

The new joint venture, scheduled for launch in the fourth quarter, will focus on servicing institutional and corporate clients in the UK and Europe, according to a press release on Wednesday. The official launch is still pending regulatory approval.

SC Ventures, a unit of Standard Chartered, initiated the joint venture with Hong Kong-listed BC Group, according to a spokeswoman at the lender. BC Group’s subsidiary OSL was the first digital-asset platform to be licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission under the city’s new regime for virtual asset trading platforms.

“We have a strong conviction that digital assets are here to stay and will be adopted by the institutional market as a highly relevant asset class,” said Alex Manson, head of SC Ventures.

It follows similar moves by other leading commercial banks as they expand their menu of services to include cryptocurrencies, heeding growing demand from their clients. DBS, for example, launched its own digital exchange for institutional and accredited investors in December.