Bitcoin Magazine
Standard Chartered Debuts Bitcoin Trading In the United Arab Emirates
Multinational bank Standard Chartered announced Thursday that it had debuted bitcoin spot trading for institutional clients in the United Arab Emirates.
The bank said that eligible institutional clients would be able to use the service — the first of its kind in the country.
Standard Chartered in 2024 launched digital asset custody services in the UAE, months before it debuted spot crypto trading in other countries.
JUST IN: Standard Chartered Bank becomes first Global Systemically Important Bank to launch institutional Bitcoin trading in the UAE
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) September 3, 2026
“The UAE has developed a clear digital assets regulatory framework that supports institutional participation and innovation,” Rola Abu Manneh, Chief Executive Officer, UAE, Middle East and Pakistan at Standard Chartered, said.
He added: “By combining execution with secure custody, governance and the connectivity of a global bank, we are providing clients with a more integrated way to participate in digital asset markets.”
Standard Chartered in 2025 set up a trading desk for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in London, making it one of the first global banks to enter spot cryptocurrency trading.
The crypto desk became part of the forex trading operation. The bank the same year debuted a blockchain unit called Libeara to help institutions tokenize traditional assets.
Standard Chartered has lately said that bitcoin’s price should continue to surge this year. Writing in an August note to investors, the bank’s Global Head of Digital Assets Research, Geoffrey Kendrick, said that a $100,000 price forecast by year-end was too low.
“Once investors remember how quickly prices can accelerate to the topside, and we get past the 6 October date (12 months after the all-time high) an overshoot towards the all-time high (USD126k) before year-end may be possible,” he said, adding that bitcoin’s bear market so far has been the shallowest on record.
This post Standard Chartered Debuts Bitcoin Trading In the United Arab Emirates first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.
Bitcoin Magazine
Dubai-Based Emirates Airline Adds Bitcoin and Crypto Payments
People can now pay with Bitcoin to buy flights from Dubai-based airline Emirates.
Working with Crypto.com, Emirates said Tuesday the customers now have the option to book flights using the crypto exchange’s payment feature.
Crypto.com and Emirates last year announced they would work together.
Emirates’ Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer Adnan Kazim said the move “reflects the rapidly evolving preferences of a younger, digitally fluent generation who manage their money and plan their journeys primarily from their phones and they expect the airlines they fly with to keep pace.”
Emirates first teased plans back in 2022 to implement Bitcoin payments; the latest move allows Crypto.com customers to use any digital assets to make payments.
Under the new setup, travelers with a Crypto.com account can select Crypto.com Pay at checkout when booking on emirates.com or through the Emirates App.
The option is limited for now to eligible UAE residents making bookings priced and settled in Emirati Dirham.
The integration runs through Crypto.com’s Dubai-licensed entity, which the company says was the first virtual asset service provider to receive a Stored Value Facilities license from the Central Bank of the UAE.
The launch also feeds into wider government targets. It supports Dubai’s Cashless Strategy, part of the D33 Economic Agenda, which is aiming to make 90% of transactions across the emirate’s government and private sectors digital by the end of 2026.
It follows on from an earlier Emirates partnership with Dubai Finance to advance digital payments, and comes after Crypto.com struck its own deal with Dubai Finance to accept digital payments for government services.
This post Dubai-Based Emirates Airline Adds Bitcoin and Crypto Payments first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.
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