Standard Chartered Bets on Ethereum’s Next Cycle | US Crypto News
Welcome to the US Crypto News Morning Briefing—your important rundown of crucial developments in crypto for the day forward.
Grab a espresso for as we speak’s learn, as Standard Chartered adjusts its plumbing, focusing on the way it constructions publicity, the place it locations threat, and which belongings it believes will matter most when the following institutional wave arrives.
Crypto News of the Day: Standard Chartered’s Crypto Bet Could Outsmart Basel III Capital Rules
Standard Chartered’s reported plans to ascertain a crypto prime brokerage could reveal greater than a renewed push into digital belongings.
By housing the initiative inside its enterprise arm, SC Ventures, the financial institution seems to be engineering a approach into institutional crypto markets whereas sidestepping one of many sector’s largest boundaries: Basel III’s punitive capital remedy.
Citing individuals aware of the matter, Bloomberg reported that the London-based lender is exploring a crypto prime brokerage providing, which would offer financing, custody, and buying and selling companies to institutional shoppers.
The enterprise is anticipated to take a seat outdoors the financial institution’s core company and funding banking division, as an alternative working beneath SC Ventures. That structural resolution may materially scale back the capital burden related to crypto publicity.
Under Basel III guidelines finalized in late 2022, banks face a 1,250% threat weighting for “permissionless” crypto belongings akin to Bitcoin and Ether.
Because this cost is way greater than the 400% utilized to some enterprise capital investments, it successfully discourages banks from holding crypto on their steadiness sheets.
By routing crypto actions by a venture-style unit, Standard Chartered could also be positioning itself nearer to a capital-light framework whereas remaining inside regulatory boundaries.
The transfer aligns with the financial institution’s broader crypto technique. Standard Chartered backs institutional platforms, together with Zodia Custody and Zodia Markets, and have become the primary world systemically vital financial institution to supply spot crypto buying and selling to institutional shoppers final 12 months.
SC Ventures has additionally disclosed work on Project37C, a digital-asset three way partnership described as a “mild financing and markets platform” spanning custody, tokenization, and market entry.
Why Ethereum Anchors Standard Chartered’s Institutional Outlook
The financial institution’s analysis outlook reinforces this institutional positioning. In a latest notice, Standard Chartered Head of Digital Assets Research Geoff Kendrick stated Ethereum is more and more more likely to outperform Bitcoin, whilst weaker-than-expected BTC efficiency weighs on the broader digital asset market.
“ETH-BTC [is] set to go again to 2021 highs,” Kendrick stated, noting that whereas Bitcoin’s dominance continues to dampen absolute returns throughout crypto, Ethereum’s relative fundamentals have strengthened.
Kendrick cited continued buying by the largest Ethereum-focused digital asset treasury company, Ethereum’s dominance in stablecoins, real-world belongings, and decentralized finance, and progress on plans to extend Ethereum’s layer-1 throughput by tenfold.
Kendrick additionally pointed to regulation as a possible catalyst. The passage of the US CLARITY Act, which might set up a clearer framework for digital belongings, may significantly profit Ethereum by unlocking additional improvement of DeFi.
While Standard Chartered lowered its ETH-USD forecasts for 2026–2028 on account of broader market weak point, it raised longer-term expectations, projecting that ETH may attain $40,000 by the tip of 2030.
“Despite our extra optimistic outlook for ETH versus BTC, we decrease our ETH-USD forecasts for 2026-28 on account of BTC weak point. However, we elevate our ETH-USD forecast for end-2029, and we see the value reaching USD 40,000 by end-2030,” Kendrick added.
Taken collectively, the financial institution’s market construction technique and analysis outlook level to a coherent institutional thesis. Prime brokerage is rising as a important layer of crypto market infrastructure as institutional participation accelerates.
Standard Chartered’s method highlights a rising stress between regulatory intent and market actuality. As world regulators debate revisiting crypto capital guidelines, banks are already discovering methods to take part with out ready for reform.
If profitable, Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures-led growth may develop into a template for the way world banks interact with crypto, quietly reshaping institutional adoption by construction.
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- US inflation knowledge amongst 4 economic events to influence Bitcoin sentiment this week.
- Ethereum bounces — however is a 20% entice forming beneath one important degree?
- Peter Brandt reveals how Monero (XMR) could print a “God Candle” like Silver.
- Federal Reserve chair cites rate of interest disputes as backdrop to DOJ probe.
- How possible is Vitalik Buterin’s Ethereum Ossifiability roadmap?
Crypto Equities Pre-Market Overview
| Company | Close As of January 9 | Pre-Market Overview |
| Strategy (MSTR) | $157.33 | $157.88 (+0.35%) |
| Coinbase (COIN) | $240.78 | $239.94 (-0.25%) |
| Galaxy Digital Holdings (GLXY) | $24.94 | $25.02 (+0.32%) |
| MARA Holdings (MARA) | $10.22 | $10.22 (0.00%) |
| Riot Platforms (RIOT) | $15.32 | $15.33 (+0.065%) |
| Core Scientific (CORZ) | $17.14 | $17.08 (-0.35%) |
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