Standard Chartered Crypto: 24X Adds Bitcoin and Ethereum - FinanceFeeds
Standard Chartered has expanded its crypto prime brokerage services to include Bitcoin and Ethereum through its partnership with Bermuda-based trading platform 24X, making the bank the central counterparty for these trades.
The London-based bank already provides prime brokerage services to 24X clients across foreign exchange non-deliverable forwards, FX spot, deliverable and non-deliverable swaps, and metals. This new arrangement marks a significant expansion of Standard Chartered's crypto offerings, which have been rapidly developed since August 2026.
Under the partnership structure, 24X becomes the first trading platform to offer both crypto and FX services with Standard Chartered acting as the central counterparty. This means institutional clients trading Bitcoin or Ethereum through 24X take credit exposure to the bank rather than to the trading firms that fill the orders.
Reduced Credit Risk
This structure addresses a key concern for institutional investors who have been hesitant to enter crypto markets due to credit risks. Under the arrangement, counterparties face only Standard Chartered while accessing over-the-counter liquidity through 24X, which handles execution only, managing liquidity configuration, matching and straight-through processing.
The credit question stops at a bank with a balance sheet and a regulator, and the execution question sits with a venue that never holds the client's risk.
Test Trading Success
The expansion follows successful test trading that began in September and October 2026. The first spot Bitcoin trade settled on September 1 with Cumberland DRW providing liquidity, followed by a second trade in October with Wintermute. This ten-week testing period allowed Standard Chartered to validate the system with different liquidity providers before widening the mandate.
Rapid Crypto Build-Out
Standard Chartered has been aggressively building its digital asset business since August 2026. The bank went live with Swift's tokenized deposit ledger alongside HSBC on August 20 and became the first bank distributor of Hong Kong's HKDAP four days later. Since then, it has expanded trading and custody services across multiple jurisdictions.
The bank also introduced RLUSD custody on the XRP Ledger and extended its UAE service to Ethereum on October 14.
Regulatory Framework
24X operates under an unusual regulatory spread. Its Bermuda entity handles currency, metals and spot crypto under the Bermuda Monetary Authority, while also being registered as an introducing broker with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and a National Futures Association member. Its sibling, 24X National Exchange, operates as a US national securities exchange.
The company's exchange operates 23 hours each weekday, having received SEC approval for this schedule in November 2024. The exchange opened on October 15, 2025, running from 4am to 8pm Eastern, with plans to implement the full overnight session in the second half of 2026.
Future Expansion
No launch date has been announced for Bitcoin and Ethereum trading under the prime brokerage arrangement, nor have volume, client or pricing details been provided. The announcement represents a structural commitment rather than an immediate revenue event.
The critical unanswered question is how Standard Chartered will manage the balance sheet requirements of acting as central counterparty to spot crypto trades. The bank will need to determine how to size and capitalize these positions, which will ultimately determine how far the Standard Chartered crypto franchise can scale.
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