Standard Chartered Becomes First Major Bank to Offer Direct Stablecoin Services

Institutions will be able to combine custody, banking and stablecoin services through a single onboarding process.

Standard Chartered has become the first global systematically important bank (G-SIB) to let institutional clients mint and redeem USDC directly through its banking platform, the lender has said.

The service removes the need for eligible clients to open separate accounts with Circle, the issuer of USDC, giving them a single onboarding process for both traditional banking and stablecoin access.

Standard Chartered Brings USDC Services Into Its Banking Platform

The new service, announced on July 2, has been developed in collaboration with Circle and will let institutional clients that qualify to mint and redeem USDC through Standard Chartered’s operations in the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC). According to the bank, clients will be able to access banking, custody and digital asset services through one integrated platform while using USDC for on-chain settlement and treasury management.

Initially, the offering will be available only through the bank’s DIFC business. However, Standard Chartered said it plans to expand it to more markets once it receives regulatory approvals.

“Digital assets are becoming an increasingly important component of global financial infrastructure, and institutional clients are seeking the same levels of trust and governance that underpin traditional markets,” said Roberto Hoornweg, Standard Chartered’s chief of corporate and investment banking.

Furthermore, he noted that the launch is meant to support wider institutional participation in crypto markets through established compliance and risk management standards.

Crypto market watchers viewed the announcement as another sign that the stablecoin infrastructure is moving further into regulated finance, with Spot On Chain’s Hupzy writing on X that placing a G-SIB directly into the USDC minting process will remove a major operational hurdle for institutions that in the past relied on exchanges or over-the-counter desks to get stablecoins. According to the analyst, the arrangement has the potential to increase the use of USDC among institutions, deepening on-chain liquidity in the process.

Stablecoin Competition Growing

Standard Chartered’s announcement came just a day after the introduction of OpenUSD, a new stablecoin backed by more than 140 companies, including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase, Ripple, and BlackRock. The project, designed around collaborative governance and revenue sharing, has added another competitor to the race to build institutional stablecoin infrastructure.

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The bank has already been expanding its presence in regulated digital assets, including in April this year, when it was among the first groups to get a Hong Kong stablecoin issuer license, allowing it to mint Hong Kong dollar-backed stablecoins for cross-border payments.