Key Points
- OKX and Standard Chartered extend their institutional partnership to the European Economic Area (EEA).
- The partnership allows institutional clients in the EEA to trade digital assets within a regulated framework.
Digital asset exchange OKX and the international banking group Standard Chartered have broadened their institutional collaboration to the EEA.
The expansion was announced on October 15, and it confirmed that institutional clients in the region can now trade digital assets within a regulated framework.
Regulated Trading Framework
This program allows clients to store their digital assets with Standard Chartered, a regulated custodian.
These assets are then mirrored as collateral on the OKX platform, which enables institutions to trade in real-time without their assets ever leaving the bank’s custody.
This structure directly mitigates counterparty risk, a significant consideration for institutional investors in the digital asset market.
This regulated environment is established under OKX’s comprehensive Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) license.
The license covers nine out of ten service categories, positioning OKX as a fully regulated operator in the European Union.
This regulatory status has supported OKX’s other recent European initiatives, such as its collaboration with PayPal to improve fiat-to-crypto accessibility.
Successful Partnership Expansion
The expansion into Europe follows a successful launch in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in April 2025.
Since its debut, the program has attracted significant institutional interest, accumulating over $100 million in assets under custody.
The service has onboarded notable clients, including Brevan Howard Digital, a leading global alternative investment manager.
The participation of established financial players highlights the demand for secure and regulated pathways for institutional engagement with digital assets.
For Standard Chartered, this collaboration is part of a broader strategy to integrate digital assets into its services.
The bank has been actively expanding its presence in the sector, including launching its own crypto trading desk for institutional clients.
The bank maintains a positive outlook on the market, with Standard Chartered’s Bitcoin forecast predicting significant price growth driven by institutional demand.
The bank is exploring other areas of the Web3 ecosystem as well, including its work on tokenized money initiatives.
OKX has also been focused on enhancing its platform and ecosystem.
The exchange recently detailed OKX’s recent X Layer upgrade, a move designed to improve performance and optimize the network for DeFi applications.
The extension of the partnership provides a structured and secure solution for institutional clients in the EEA to participate in the digital asset market, combining the trading infrastructure of a major exchange with the custodial security of an established international bank.
