LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Standard Chartered is reportedly setting up a trading desk for Bitcoin and Ether, making it one of the first global banks to enter spot cryptocurrency trading.

Bloomberg cited people familiar with the matter as saying that the new crypto desk is close to starting operations and will be part of the bank's FX trading unit. It was understood it will be run from London.

Banks including Goldman Sachs have been trading cryptocurrency derivatives for years, but strict regulations have kept them from dealing directly in the underlying assets. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has proposed that banks must apply a 1,250% risk weighting to any unhedged crypto exposure, making it difficult to generate profits.

"We have been working closely with our regulators to support demand from our institutional clients to trade Bitcoin and Ethereum, in line with our strategy to support clients across the wider digital asset ecosystem, from access and custody to tokenization and interoperability," the bank said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg.

A Standard Chartered spokesperson declined to comment further.

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