Standard Chartered Becomes First Global Bank to Offer Direct USDC Access to Institutions
Standard Chartered launched a service letting institutional clients mint and redeem Circle’s USDC directly through the bank, without opening separate accounts with Circle. It says this is the first Global Systemically Important Bank to provide integrated institutional access to USDC minting and redemption through a single onboarding process. The offering combines fiat banking, digital asset infrastructure, and public blockchains to support faster value transfer across traditional and crypto systems. Initial uses include on-chain settlement, treasury operations, and liquidity management, with payment applications planned later. The rollout starts in Standard Chartered’s Dubai International Financial Center operations as the first phase of a broader stablecoin strategy, subject to regulatory approvals in other markets.
