British bank Standard Chartered (LON: STAN) is expanding its cryptocurrency custody services for institutions in Singapore.
The London-based bank said that it plans to offer custody for select crypto assets, stablecoins, and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) to institutional investors.
Crypto custody is the storage, protection, and management of private keys, the cryptographic codes that prove ownership of digital assets and allow people to transfer them on a blockchain.
Standard Chartered also said that it plans to extend its existing crypto custody services to new markets in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Luxembourg, and Hong Kong.
The expansion follows the bank’s move to bring more of its crypto custody operations in-house.
Earlier this year, Standard Chartered moved parts of Zodia Custody, an institutional crypto custodian that it acquired, into its corporate bank division.
Standard Chartered has also introduced institutional spot trading for Bitcoin (CRYPTO: $BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: $ETH) through its British network of bank branches.
The lender is also known for its bullish price forecasts of Bitcoin and other digital assets.
Currently, Standard Chartered predicts that Bitcoin’s price will reach $100,000 U.S. by the end of this year.
BTC is trading at $82,150 U.S. on Oct. 8.
