Standard Chartered Ventures Targets $250M Digital Assets Fund With Middle East Investor: Bloomberg

Standard Chartered venture arm, SC Ventures, plans to raise $250 million for a fund dedicated to digital assets in the financial services sector, Bloomberg ￰5￱ fund is expected to launch in 2026, with participation from investors in the Middle ￰6￱ member Gautam Jain revealed the plans during the Money 20/20 fintech event in Riyadh on Monday, signaling the firm’s intention to expand its role in the growing global fintech and digital assets ￰7￱ to Jain, the capital will fund financial services, particularly in sectors like tokenization, blockchain technology, and other regulated digital asset ￰8￱ Ventures Eyes $100M Africa Fund, Expands Crypto Strategy Alongside the $250 million initiative, SC Ventures aims to create a $100 million fund for ￰9￱ unit is also considering its first venture debt fund as part of its wider ￰10￱ did not confirm whether the Africa or debt funds will specifically target digital assets or fintech ￰11￱ in 2018, SC Ventures was established to back technology startups and develop innovative projects for Standard ￰12￱ firm launched operations in Saudi Arabia in January 2025 and intends to create a dedicated team in the ￰13￱ 2026, it plans to establish a domestic Saudi fund focusing on minority investments and new business ￰14￱ development adds to Standard Chartered’s expanding digital asset ￰15￱ this year, the bank became the first globally significant financial institution to offer spot trading for Bitcoin and Ethereum through its ￰16￱ rolls out regulated spot trading for Bitcoin and Ether in the UK, enabling institutional access via traditional forex platforms. #StanChart #SpotCrypto ￰0￱ — ￰17￱ (@cryptonews) July 15, 2025 It has also advanced tokenization via its blockchain platform, Libeara, and teamed up with exchanges such as OKX to provide collateral solutions involving cryptocurrencies and tokenized money market funds.

Similarly, Standard Chartered (Hong Kong) earlier partnered with Animoca Brands and HKT to launch an HKD-backed stablecoin under HKMA’s new regime, aiming to improve payment efficiency and drive wider adoption of digital assets in Hong Kong and beyond. @StanChart , @animocabrands , and HKT team up to launch a Hong Kong dollar-backed stablecoin. #Stablecoin #HongKong ￰1￱ — ￰18￱ (@cryptonews) February 17, 2025 In the early days of 2025, Standard Chartered secured a Luxembourg license t o provide crypto custody under the EU’s MiCA ￰19￱ move leverages Luxembourg’s strong regulatory environment to meet rising client ￰20￱ came after the bank launched crypto custody services in the UAE after obtaining a DFSA license in ￰21￱ Fintech Surges as Standard Chartered Expands; Africa Heats Up Notably, the timing of this SC Ventures announcement coincides with rapid growth in the Middle East and North Africa fintech ￰22￱ the investors were not mentioned in Standard Chartered, Binance received a record $2B stablecoin investment from Abu Dhabi’s MGX earlier this year, giving the firm a minority stake and advancing AI–blockchain ￰23￱ later, the Saudi Central Bank took its first indirect step into Bitcoin by buying 25,656 shares, $60 billion, of Strategy, suggesting continuous digital asset exposure in the region.

A major oil economy quietly inches toward digital asset exposure, hinting at broader changes in how sovereign wealth might evolve in a tokenized future. #BTC #SaudiArabia ￰2￱ — ￰24￱ (@cryptonews) May 16, 2025 According to data platform Magnitt , fintech startups in the region raised $274 million in the first half of 2025, with Saudi Arabia leading the ￰25￱ activity was concentrated in payment solutions, lending, and insurance. Similarly, Saudi Arabia aims to host 500 fintech companies by 2030, compared with fewer than 300 ￰26￱ Money 20/20 Riyadh event reflected this ambition, drawing more than 1,000 investors and 150 startups to the ￰27￱ SC Ventures’ plans, several significant deals were unveiled at the ￰28￱ payments provider Hala raised $157 million in one of the region’s largest early-stage funding rounds, led by TPG and Sanabil, a unit of the Public Investment ￰29￱ now, pay later firm Tamara secured an asset-backed facility of up to $2.4 billion from Goldman Sachs and ￰30￱ another development, STV and Wamid, the technology arm of the Saudi Tadawul Group, agreed to launch the country’s first trading platform for private ￰31￱ technology players also made ￰32￱ confirmed the rollout of Google Pay and Google Wallet in Saudi Arabia, with services available initially to Al Rajhi Bank and Riyad Bank customers.

Meanwhile, ride-hailing firm inDrive said it will begin operations in the kingdom later this month. Notably, ￰33￱ announced the opening of Nigeria’s first major international crypto office while also targeting Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa in its African expansion. ￰3￱ Launches African Push in Nigeria, Ghana, opening Nigeria’s first major international crypto office this quarter. #Crypto #Africa ￰4￱ — ￰34￱ (@cryptonews) May 27, 2025 Similarly, Ripple partnered with Chipper Cash to power low-cost, faster cross-border payments across nine countries, and Coinbase teamed up with stablecoin exchange Yellow Card to expand access in 20 nations. Together, these moves highlighted Africa’s growing role in global crypto adoption.