Standard Chartered and Coinbase have expanded their strategic partnership to build trading, custody and financing infrastructure for institutional cryptocurrency clients.
The British multinational bank said the collaboration will focus on developing secure and compliant digital asset services tailored to large financial institutions.
Under the expanded alliance, the two firms will explore offerings across trading, prime brokerage, custody, staking and lending services.
Standard Chartered said the partnership is designed to meet growing institutional demand for regulated access to digital asset markets.
“We aim to explore how the two organisations can support secure, transparent and interoperable solutions that meet the highest standards of security and compliance,” Margaret Harwood-Jones said.
Harwood-Jones is the global head of financing and securities services at Standard Chartered and oversees the bank’s institutional market infrastructure strategy.
The firms said the collaboration combines Standard Chartered’s global banking, cross-border payments and custody expertise with Coinbase’s institutional crypto platform.
The goal is to offer institutions an integrated framework to trade, hold and manage digital assets within established regulatory standards.
Both companies believe such infrastructure is critical as traditional financial players increase exposure to digital assets.
The announcement builds on an existing partnership between the two firms in Singapore.
In Singapore, Standard Chartered already provides banking connectivity for Coinbase, enabling real-time Singapore dollar transfers for exchange users.
That arrangement has allowed Coinbase to deepen its footprint in Asia’s regulated digital asset markets.
Standard Chartered has increasingly positioned itself as a key banking partner for crypto-native and blockchain-focused firms.
In 2024, the bank partnered with Crypto.com to provide global retail banking services across more than 90 countries.
That service allows Crypto.com users to deposit and withdraw US dollars, euros and UAE dirhams directly through its application.
The expanded Coinbase partnership signals Standard Chartered’s continued commitment to digital asset infrastructure rather than speculative trading.
Coinbase, meanwhile, is continuing to broaden its institutional and product offerings.
The exchange is expected to announce new products next week that may include prediction markets and tokenised equity products.
These initiatives suggest Coinbase is seeking to bridge traditional financial instruments with blockchain-based infrastructure.
The partnership comes amid broader regulatory developments affecting crypto market infrastructure.
On Friday, the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency conditionally approved several national trust bank charter applications linked to the digital asset sector.
The approvals include companies planning to convert existing state-chartered trust entities into national trust banks.
Firms covered by the approval include BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos.
New applicants Circle and Ripple were also granted conditional approval under the programme.
The regulatory decision is seen as a step towards integrating digital asset custody and trust services into the US banking system.
Market observers say these developments underscore increasing alignment between traditional banks and crypto-native firms.
Analysts expect institutional demand for compliant crypto services to accelerate as regulatory clarity improves.
Standard Chartered and Coinbase said their collaboration is intended to support this shift by building scalable and secure market infrastructure.