The rapid expansion of theĀ cryptocurrency sectorĀ is ushering increasingly moreĀ financialĀ institutions into offering crypto-related services and products for their clients, including Singaporeās largestĀ bank DBS.
Indeed, DBS Group Holdings Ltd. has expanded access toĀ crypto tradingĀ services for its 100,000Ā investorsĀ that belong to the DBS Treasures section,Ā BloombergāsĀ Natalie Ching Mun ChoyĀ reportedĀ on September 23.
This section of the bankās operations covers wealthy clients with investable assets of at least $246,000, and the new development will allow them to trade cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), andĀ XRP, on DBS Digital Exchange.
From now on, these clients will be able to partake in the bankās crypto trading operations with a minimumĀ investmentĀ of $500. Beforehand, this option was only available to institutional and corporate investors, family offices, as well as clients of DBS Private Bank and DBS Treasures Private Clients.Ā
Crypto trading surges despite circumstances
This development arrives one month after DBS bankās exchange reportedĀ a significant surge in the volume of crypto transactionsĀ carried out on its members-only platform for institutional and professional investors, more than quadrupling in June compared to April 2022, despite volatility in the crypto market.
Back in February 2022, the CEO of DBS, Piyush Gupta, outlined the bankās plans toĀ launch a retail crypto trading desk by the end of the year, devoting the first half of the year to improving access to the digital assets trading desk for its current clients.
In August 2021, the bank got theĀ āin principleā clearanceĀ from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to provide crypto trading services to asset managers and businesses, after which it opened an institutional digital asset trading desk, asĀ Finbold reported.
At the same time, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister and Minister in charge of the MAS, stressed that the watchdog was cautious about cryptocurrencies, reflected in its adviceĀ against any retail participation in tradingĀ such assets.
Earlier in June, the regulatorās CTO Sopnendu Mohanty related the MASās stance to beĀ ābrutal and unrelentingly hardāĀ on the crypto sectorās bad actors, in addition to his questioning the value of private crypto assets and announcing a state-backed alternative.