DLA Piper has advised Standard Chartered on its first live digital asset prime brokerage trades, supporting the bank’s pilot transactions with LMAX Digital.
The law firm provided legal advice on the trading, credit intermediation and settlement arrangements underpinning the pilot, which involved spot Bitcoin and Ethereum trades executed on LMAX Digital’s platform with T+1 settlement through Standard Chartered.
The transactions saw Standard Chartered act as a credit intermediary, with settlement completed via its DIFC-based digital asset custody platform.
The pilot represents the bank’s first digital asset credit intermediation transactions under a prime brokerage model and positions it among the first global systemically important banks to execute such trades.
Paul Landless, partner at DLA Piper, said: “This transaction is another watershed moment in the rapid growth of the institutional market in digital asset trading and prime brokerage. Acting for Standard Chartered at the cutting edge of market developments demonstrates our deep experience and understanding of this ecosystem.”
According to DLA Piper, the pilot demonstrates how established legal, risk and compliance frameworks can be applied within institutional digital asset markets while supporting the development of scalable prime brokerage models for institutional investors.
Sophie Lessar, partner at DLA Piper, added that the growth of digital asset markets will depend on innovation being supported by robust legal, regulatory and risk management frameworks, describing the pilot as an example of how established financial institutions can engage with digital assets within a well-governed structure.
