Over the last few years Standard Chartered’s leadership team have had many challenges to contend with. One of the biggest challenges has been the share price of the bank. When CEO Bill Winters took over the bank in June 2015 the share price of the bank was hovering around £10. Today it sits at almost £13.50 after many years of underperforming at sub-£10. Could one of the reasons be that Standard Chartered has become a crypto leader in banking?
A look at the financial results for Quarter 2 2025 shows that Standard Chartered, or StanChart for short, is having a fantastic year. Just like other banks, one of the main areas of improvement has been global banking. The division grew from 796 million in Quarter 2 2024 to 1.17 billion in Quarter 2 2025.
These results have been supported by the share price which finally broke through the £10 barrier in December 2024. It briefly reverted to $8.78 when Trump made his tariff announcements on Liberation Day, but has spent most of 2025 so far well above the £10 it was trading at when Winters became CEO.
The bank’s results were published on July 31, 2025. Sustainable finance and digital assets are both mentioned in detail in the bank’s half year results presentation. The investment into these areas has been funded by strong growth in global markets and global banking.
Standard Chartered Takes a Leading Position in Development of Digital Assets
StanChart’s digital assets strategy is comprehensive. The bank wants to leverage its cross-border capabilities across different asset classes. It wants to work with market participants to build a broad digital assets ecosystem. And it wants to provide custody and trading services, with the aim to lead as a digital asset custodian.
The bank has already taken steps to execute its strategy. In April the bank launched collateral mirroring for crypto and tokenized money market funds with OKX in collaboration with Franklin Templeton. Brevan Howard Digital has been onboarded onto the programme.
In July this year StanChart also launched digital assets trading for institutional clients. This move should continue to strengthen the capital markets offering of the bank. Institutional clients now have access and can trade cryptoassets through familiar FX interfaces.
Winters commented on the news: “Digital assets are a foundational element of the evolution in financial services. They’re integral to enabling new pathways for innovation, greater inclusion and growth across the industry. As client demand accelerates further, we want to offer clients a route to transact, trade and manage digital asset risk safely and efficiently within regulatory requirements.”
StanChart is also involved in a joint venture to apply for a license to issue a Hong Kong dollar-backed stablecoin. It states that it has launched the first tokenised retail fund in Asia Pacific. All this whilst liaising with regulators across the globe to ensure compliance.
In January this year StanChart announced the opening of a new entity in Luxembourg. This entity acts as its European Union (EU) regulatory entry point for the provision of crypto and digital asset custody services to EU clients, following implementation of the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) Regulation.
How SC Ventures Strengthens StanChart’s Digital Assets Strategy
Another important part of the strategy is the SC Ventures portfolio. SC Ventures is the platform and catalyst for StanChart to promote innovation, invest in disruptive financial technology and explore alternative business models. One of the startups that form the portfolio, Zodia Custody, has been a particular success story. StanChart has repeatedly backed the crypto startup over the years. Zodia Custody has seen assets under custody increase tenfold since January 2024.
Zodia is two different firms led by two different CEOs. Julian Sawyer is the CEO of Zodia Custody which has 150 employees. Usman Ahmad is the CEO of Zodia Markets. Both companies have their own unique service offering to the market, they just share a name, and are both backed by StanChart’s SC Ventures. Zodia Markets’ national trading volume has increased threefold year-on-year transacting approximately $23 billion in USDC (stablecoin).
Other companies from SC Ventures’ Digital Assets venture ecosystem include Libeara and SWIAT.
Libeara is a road-tested asset tokenisation platform that seeks to introduce a new approach to investing through technology and innovation. The team behind Libeara were finalists of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Global Retail CBDC Challenge and are the team behind digital platform prototypes used by the Hong Kong government, Ghana, and the Philippines.
SWIAT is a Frankfurt-based FinTech. It develops blockchain-software for an open decentralised financial market infrastructure. In June, Berliner Volksbank made its first blockchain investment thanks to SWIAT.
These companies form a critical part of StanChart’s digial assets strategy going forward.
Standard Chartered Crypto Price Predictions
StanChart has one more feather to its cap. This feather is being nurtured by Geoff Kendrick, StanChart’s head of digital assets research. Kendrick joined StanChart from Morgan Stanley in 2016. His initial role was emerging markets FX research. Last September he moved into the role of Global Head of Digital Assets Research (according to LinkedIn).
Kendrick has been in the news multiple times. He is becoming somewhat of an ambassador for StanChart amongst institutional and retail investors alike. He has also helped to make StanChart a name that is listened to amongst crypto enthusiasts.
In 2023 Kendrick predicted that bitcoin could hit $100,000 in 2024. He was right. Bitcoin hit $100,000 in December 2024. This year he was at it again. In April this year Kendrick wrote an email to The Block that called bitcoin a “U.S. isolation” hedge. He suggested that investors could hold bitcoin to hedge against the uncertainty created by tariffs. He also added one thing to that email: “HODL”, for those who already had bitcoin in their portfolio.
Kendrick was at it again last week. This time he shared his thoughts on ether. Kendrick believes the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap could go to $7,500 by the end of 2025. Ether is trading at $4,190 today.
“We project that the stablecoin sector will grow by around 8x by end-2028, which would have a significant direct impact on fees on the Ethereum network,” Kendrick was quoted by Reuters.
When it comes to bitcoin, Kendrick told CNBC in February that he believes $200,000 is achievable in 2025. By the time Trump’s presidency ends this price could hit $500,000, he added.
“As the industry becomes more institutionalized, it should be safer,” Kendrick told CNBC.
Where Standard Chartered Leads, Other GSIBs Will Follow
StanChart is changing. Its strategy is changing. Its approach to institutional crypto is remarkable. With time other global systematically important banks (GSIBs) will need to follow where StanChart is leading. Like Winters said in his earnings report, crypto can help foster innovation, inclusion, and growth.
Stay tuned. Keep hodling.
Author: Andy Samu
#StanChart #StandardChartered #Crypto #DigitalAssets #Strategy #GSIB
Stock prices are taken from leading trading platform TradingView.
The editorial team at #DisruptionBanking has taken all precautions to ensure that no persons or organizations have been adversely affected or offered any sort of financial advice in this article. This article is most definitely not financial advice.
See Also:
Standard Chartered and OKX launch world-leading collateral mirroring programme | Disruption Banking
Will Brevan Howard’s Crypto Arm Have Another Successful Year in 2025? | Disruption Banking
Fintech Is a Mindset – Gemini’s Julian Sawyer | Disruption Banking
