Crypto’s Back-End Gets A Boost As Coinbase And Standard Chartered Join Forces

Standard Chartered and Coinbase announced an expanded collaboration on December 12, 2025, to develop a suite of services aimed at institutional investors. Based on reports from both firms, the work will look at trading, prime services, custody, staking and lending for banks, funds and other large players. Building On Existing Work The firms said the push grows out of an existing arrangement in Singapore where Standard Chartered provides banking links that let customers move Singapore dollars in real time to and from Coinbase. That setup helped power Coinbase’s move into the island city’s business market on November 12, 2025. What They Plan To Explore Coinbase and Standard Chartered described five areas they will explore together: trading, prime services, custody, staking and lending. These cover order execution, financing and custody options that big clients typically demand. Both sides framed the effort as trying to give institutional users safer, regulated ways to hold and move digital assets. Why The Move Matters Institutional investors have been asking for services that resemble what they get in traditional markets — custody with strong controls, credit and financing options, and execution tools tied to regulated banking rails. Standard Chartered already rolled out spot trading for Bitcoin and Ether for its institutional clients earlier in the year, an effort that showed the bank is building its own crypto capabilities as demand grows. Middle Ground For Banks And Crypto Firms Coinbase brings its institutional trading platform and market access ; Standard Chartered brings global payment rails, FX handling and a bank’s compliance framework. The result, the partners say, should be a way for large investors to trade and custody digital assets while sticking to familiar banking rules and procedures. Other banks and prime brokers are also striking ties with crypto firms or building in-house services, so this announcement is part of a broader push to give big clients regulated choices. For institutional traders, having multiple, regulated routes to trade and settle crypto helps reduce single-point dependency and may lower operational risk. Public Launch Date Or Pricing Neither company provided a timetable or fee details when they announced the expansion. For now, the plan is to develop and test product ideas for institutional clients across regions where each firm operates. The announcement underlines how more traditional finance players and crypto firms are working together to meet demand from large customers. Featured image from Standard Chartered, chart from TradingView