Citi & Crypto: A Match Made in… 2026? 🤷

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A Rather Delayed Decision

One hears, of course, that Citigroup-a substantial institution, to be sure-has decided, after much deliberation (and one suspects, a considerable amount of hand-wringing), to venture into the world of digital assets. Crypto custody, they say. By 2026. One wonders what took them so long. 🕰️

A Question of Why, Really

Apparently, there’s some expectation of growth involving these… stablecoins and these ETFs. One can only assume the money smells vaguely appealing, even to seasoned bankers. Though, as we all know, chasing trends rarely ends well. 😔

And The Competition? A Mere Inconvenience?

Ah, yes, the competition. It remains to be seen, they say, if they can withstand it. One gathers the stablecoin issuers themselves have taken a fancy to keeping their assets close. How… unconventional. As though they suspect everyone else. 🧐

Mr. Biswarup Chatterjee, who holds a wonderfully long title at Citi involving partnerships and innovation, has stated they’ve been “developing” this custody solution for over three years. Three years! One pictures a team of earnest young men and women staring at screens, utterly bewildered.

“We’re hoping that in the next few quarters, we can come to market with a credible custody solution that we can offer to our asset managers and other clients.”

Custody, it seems, is the business of holding things for others-crypto included. A rather sensible arrangement, really, considering the… volatility of the modern world. It rather reduces the risk of everything simply vanishing.

Citi’s Little Experiment

They are, predictably, exploring all sorts of options. An in-house solution, or perhaps a partnership. It’s always delightful to watch large organisations dither, isn’t it?

“We may have certain solutions that are completely designed and built in-house that are targeted towards certain assets and certain segment of our clients, whereas we may use a … third-party, lightweight, nimble solution for other kinds of assets.”

Apparently, keeping things “nimble” is a concern. One imagines the weight of tradition bearing heavily upon them. 🐢

It appears they’ve already decided to focus on the reserves backing these… stablecoins. A remarkably sensible first step, though one suspects it’s less about altruism and more about finding a place to park a considerable sum of money.

“Providing custody services for the high-quality assets backing stablecoins is our first area of focus.”

This new GENIUS Act means those issuing stablecoins-Circle, Tether, Ripple-must now back their tokens with things like treasury bills. A rather pedestrian requirement, don’t you think? But apparently necessary. Stablecoin supply has increased, naturally, because more money is always good, isn’t it? They predict two trillion by 2028. A staggering amount. One almost feels sorry for the accountants. 😩

And they’ve launched Citi Token Services, something to do with cross-border payments. And invested in a platform called BVNK. More money changing hands. The cycle continues.

But already, others are rather ahead of them. Circle and Ripple are applying to custody their own reserves. And Coinbase appears to have a rather firm grip on the ETF market. Then there’s Anchorage Digital… it’s all rather congested, isn’t it? One can almost hear the quiet desperation.

One suspects, however, that competition is a word used to describe the efforts of the slightly less fortunate. Still, it will be… interesting to observe how Citigroup attempts to carve out a piece of this fascinating, chaotic world. Perhaps they’ll simply buy everyone else. That always works, doesn’t it?

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2025-10-15 08:14