Standard Chartered is setting up a joint venture to buy and sell virtual currencies such as bitcoin-not long ago its biggest competitor, HSBC Holdings.Said it would not participate in the cryptocurrency trading boom.
The London-based bank said on Wednesday that its technology arm SC Ventures would set up a joint venture with BC Technology Group Ltd., a Hong Kong investment company focused on digital assets.
Alex Manson, head of SC Ventures, said he was "confident that digital assets will continue to exist and will be accepted by the institutional market as a highly relevant asset class."
"We are building the foundation for a secure and reliable investment infrastructure," Manson said.
The bank's new joint venture will be headquartered in the UK to target the European market and help institutional traders find counterparties. It will offer transactions in all major virtual currencies, including Bitcoin, and will open for business in the fourth quarter.
By contrast, (Noel Quinn), HSBC's chief executive, said last week that the bank did not intend to provide clients with virtual currency as a target for investment because it was too volatile.