The bank will place the new desk under its FX trading division.

Standard Chartered is launching its spot trading operations specifically for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The new offering will expand the bank’s suite of digital asset services, including crypto custody and OTC trading.

Standard Chartered’s FX trading division will handle trades of the new crypto desk, which is expected to begin operations soon and operate out of London, as reported.

While banks like Goldman Sachs Group have offered crypto derivatives, direct dealing in the assets has been limited due to stringent regulations. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s proposed rules have made profitability challenging by requiring a high-risk weighting for crypto exposure.

Standard Chartered is working with regulators to address concerns and meet the demand from their institutional clients who want to trade Bitcoin and Ethereum.

“We have been working closely with our regulators to support demand from our institutional clients to trade Bitcoin and Ethereum, in line with our strategy to support clients across the wider digital asset ecosystem, from access and custody to tokenization and interoperability,” a representative from Standard Chartered stated.

The launch will make Standard Chartered among the first major banks to establish a spot crypto trading desk, paving the way for wider institutional adoption.