Citi to Launch Bitcoin Custody for Institutional Clients

$2.8T asset manager Citi Bank plans to launch a Bitcoin Custody+ program, letting clients hold Bitcoin alongside traditional assets. The Wall Street banking behemoth announced earlier today that it’s preparing to launch digital asset custody later this year, with Bitcoin being the first asset supported by Custody+.

The press release published on August 18 indicated that Custody+ will act as a suite of near- and real-time services designed to accommodate financial markets increasingly moving toward continuous trading and faster settlement. “Digital assets already operate on near-instant settlement, 24/7. Citi expects to go live with digital asset custody later this year, starting with the custody of Bitcoin. This is being built on Citi’s common digital asset architecture, and we will offer a one-stop custody experience. Clients will access traditional and crypto custody capabilities within the same framework for an integrated experience.”

Citi’s Custody+ announcement follows the bank’s completion of the US rollout of its Single Event Processing technology, a key part of the bank’s custody infrastructure overhaul. Citi said more than 80% of all event volume across its network is now processed in real time. For US voluntary corporate actions, the technology has reduced processing times by up to 92%, while 96% of those events are now processed within two hours, the firm noted in a press release.

Furthermore, Citi Bank has become a far more public backer of the crypto indsutry in recent months, and the launch of Custody+ is further proof of that. Just last week, the bank called for the US Senate to pass the new crypto bill. Citigroup’s CEO Jane Fraser voiced support for passing the U.S. digital asset market structure legislation in an interview with Fox Business.