When I wrote the Weekly Research piece on JPMorgan’s digital asset strategy, I didn’t anticipate the high level of interest it would generate. That piece has since become one of my most frequently referenced works in conversations with regulated financial institutions.
For many financial institutions, however, dedicating the resources that JPMorgan can deploy toward digital asset development simply isn’t feasible. Most institutions need a more focused approach, carefully choosing their target markets and go-to-market (GTM) strategies.
Like JPMorgan, Standard Chartered is another prominent bank actively engaged in the digital asset space. However, unlike JPMorgan, it does not spend much resources building its own blockchain infrastructure to support its product offerings. Instead, it is happy to utilize infrastructure built by others and focus on developing products that meet specific market demands.
Standard Chartered is a great example of a bank that took a more narrow but highly targeted approach to its digital asset strategy. For example, here is a post on Standard Chartered’s success in leveraging its blockchain based transfer agent solution to expand its foothold in a digital securities trading value chain.
In this issue of Weekly Research, I’ll dive into Standard Chartered’s digital asset strategy by examining:
Its key market verticals
Its primary initiatives and investments within those verticals
Its traction and product solutions
Let’s get started.
Standard Chartered (SC) is a global systemically important bank (GSIB) under Bucket 1 according to the Financial Stability Board. It has been active in the blockchain space since early days. Currently SC has four areas of focus when it comes to digital assets:
Trade Finance
Cross-Border Payment