A new partnership between the European Economic Area (EEA) cooperation between Standard Chartered, and OKX, a worldwide on-chain technology business and digital assets exchange, is in the making.
With the start of their collateral mirroring program, Standard Chartered and OKX first announced their partnership in the United Arab Emirates in April 2025.
This shows banking giants from all across the globe are actively partnering and joining forces with crypto exchanges and institutions to build up more protected and better services for users of the cryptocurrency and blockchain space.
What does this mean?
In order to improve risk management and lessen counterparty exposure, OKX allows institutional clients to safely hold assets off-exchange, with Standard Chartered serving as an independent, licensed custodian.
Standard Chartered and OKX will be able to cover the whole value chain from execution to custody thanks to this relationship.
According to Margaret Harwood-Jones, Standard Chartered’s global head of finance and securities services, “Our partnership with OKX has reached a major milestone with the extension of our custody to the EEA.”
“By leveraging our established custody infrastructure and OKX’s regulatory framework, we are committed to ensuring the highest standards of security and compliance for our institutional clients in Europe.”
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Quotes from the leaders
“The expansion of our custody to the EEA represents a significant milestone in our collaboration with OKX,” said Margaret Harwood-Jones, Global Head of Financing and Securities Services at Standard Chartered.
“The combination of our MiCA license and the expansion of our custody partnership into the EEA reflects OKX’s commitment to building a trusted and fully regulated marketplace in Europe,” said Iskandar Vanblarcum, Vice President of Institutional Sales & Business Development at OKX.
Not only that, according to a Citi insider, as Wall Street giants expand their involvement in the digital currency industry, the bank intends to provide a service for the protection of cryptocurrency assets in 2026.
For the last two to three years, the bank has been developing a cryptocurrency custody service, and it is making progress. Especially during the hours when traditional banking is closed, banks are looking to blockchain as a way to quickly move money in a variety of currencies worldwide.
OKX views this partnership as a tangible example of its sustained dedication to Europe. Investors may operate in a safe, effective, and compliant environment thanks to a mix of clear rules and creative solutions like collateral mirroring.
As more and more such collaborations start to evolve, there will be a time when traditional finance will be closely associated with the crypto and blockchain industry as well.
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