Citigroup plans to offer custody and settlement services for stablecoins and crypto ETFs, according to a senior executive who spoke to Reuters.
While the bank primarily focuses on custody of high-quality assets backing stablecoins, it is also exploring custody of digital assets backing cryptocurrency-based investment products such as Bitcoin spot ETFs.
Citigroup also aims to use stablecoins to increase speed and efficiency in cross-border payments and develop solutions that offer instant settlement. Currently, the bank operates a blockchain-based payment network capable of 24/7 tokenized dollar transfers between New York, London, and Hong Kong. New plans include stablecoin transfers and the ability to convert them to dollars for instant payments.
Citigroup’s actions follow sweeping policy changes in Washington, with the US Congress passing legislation last month paving the way for widespread use of stablecoins in areas such as payments and settlement. The new law requires stablecoin issuers to be backed by safe assets such as US Treasury bonds or cash. This creates new business opportunities for traditional custodian banks.
“Custody of the high-quality assets backing stablecoins is the first option we are exploring,” said Biswarup Chatterjee, head of global partnerships and innovation at Citigroup Services. The bank has also considered providing custody of digital assets, which is required for products like Bitcoin spot ETFs, which the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved last year.
Noting that BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, the market’s largest Bitcoin ETF, has a market value of approximately $90 billion, Chatterjee said, “An equivalent amount of digital assets needs to be safely stored to support these ETFs.”
Coinbase currently dominates the crypto ETF custody market, serving over 80% of issuers in this space.
*This is not investment advice.
