SC Ventures, the investment arm of Standard Chartered bank, and SBI Holdings, the Japanese financial conglomerate, have announced their collaboration to establish a $100 million cryptocurrency investment vehicle in the United Arab Emirates. The joint venture will focus on various crypto sectors, including decentralized finance, tokenization, infrastructure, payments, and the metaverse, aiming to invest globally from seed to Series C funding rounds. This development coincides with the crypto market’s recovery, particularly with Bitcoin’s year-to-date gain of over 120%, potentially signaling renewed interest amid expectations of an upcoming spot Bitcoin ETF approval in early 2023.