Standard Chartered has made its first digital asset sale with LMAX Group, which was instrumental in building the foundation of the crypto market.
With this move, a bank became one of the first Global Systemically Important Banks (G-SIBs) to test digital asset trading within institutional, compliance and market risk.
The pilot hedged the Bitcoin (XBT/USD) position with a fixed T+1 through Standard Chartered’s UK branch. These were the first digital business startups in the bank under the business category.
This was done on LMAX Digital, a platform managed by LMAX Group, where Standard Chartered Prime Brokerage acted as a credit intermediary between the parties. The settlement is completed through the bank’s depository platform at the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC).
Prime brokerage has been supporting equity and foreign exchange for many years, providing institutions with a single team for credit, trading and debt settlement. Crypto does not have that layer. As capital shifts from direct exchanges, the gap has grown: in 2025, it flows through large businesses and OTC desks have grown more than 10 times the number of flows in the exchange.
Trading digital assets on a large scale requires a partner, risk management and creditworthiness to stand behind the transaction. Many banks around the world have either partnered with crypto-native companies or are on the sidelines.
Standard Chartered he said their methods differ: the bank is entering as a loan intermediary on its website, and the LMAX Group is providing management tools for its underlying assets.
In short, the bank is bringing its money to digital assets instead of lending to someone else.
What the Standard Chartered pilot confirmed
The exercise confirmed significant improvements in credit, margins, risk management, bookkeeping, cash flow and reporting, and demonstrated the model was operating within existing regulatory frameworks.
The test brought LMAX Group’s planning and matching technology and bank customer communications, electronic messaging, product matching and initial verification of network acquisition methods. It suggested how traditional and digital tools can work as one.
The two companies are describing the pilot as a step on the way to a more aggressive, low-cost market.
It builds on digital marketing possibility Standard Chartered was founded in 2025.
“This pilot is part of our strategy to develop solutions for the digital, storage, retail and marketing sectors,” said Alison Higgins, Head of Prime Services at Standard Chartered. “As demand continues to grow, we are helping our Prime Brokerage clients take advantage of new opportunities with the risk management, controls and capabilities they have come to expect from G-SIB.”
David Mercer, CEO of LMAX Group, designed the product as a solution to the design gap. “The lack of credit institutions with strong documents at the level we see in traditional finance has been the most difficult step in the digital asset market so far,” he said. “This is a great example of the impending evolution of TradFi and the digital economy to the capital markets of the future.”
