U.S. Today – Sources close to the situation suggest that Standard Chartered (OTC: SCBFF), a major financial institution, may soon open a trading desk only for Ethereum and Bitcoin, as reported by Bloomberg. By taking this daring move, Standard Chartered established itself as one of the first international banks to accept spot bitcoin trading.
The upcoming cryptocurrency desk is getting close to being operationally ready and will be a crucial part of the bank’s foreign exchange (FX) trading department. Due to the sensitive nature of the information, those who would rather stay nameless have shared the initiative, which is veiled in secrecy.
The crypto trading desk, which will be run out of London, will represent a big step forward for Standard Chartered, a bank with a long history in traditional finance, towards digital assets. With this action, the bank is indicating that it understands the increasing significance of cryptocurrencies in the global financial system.
As institutional use of cryptocurrencies increases, Standard Chartered is just one of several well-known banks extending its reach into this space. It owns stakes in Zodia Custody and Zodia Markets, two cryptocurrency businesses that offer custody and over-the-counter trading services.
As demand develops for a simple way to invest in cryptocurrencies, Australia’s largest stocks exchange listed its first spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) on Thursday.
90% of the nation’s equities market is traded on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), where the VanEck Bitcoin ETF (VBTC) started trading.
The CEO and creator of MicroStrategy, Michael Saylor, announced yesterday that the business had purchased an additional 11,931 Bitcoins for roughly $786 million. The funds were obtained through convertible notes and extra cash, with each Bitcoin valued at approximately $65,883. At an average price of $36,798 per Bitcoin, MicroStrategy paid approximately $8.33 billion for the 226,331 BTC that the company currently possesses.
