Citi Partners With Swiss Firm METACO For Digital Asset Custody

Citi group has come forward to announce that it has joined hands with a swiss crypto custody firm METACO. This partnership will develop and pilot digital asset custody capabilities.

Citibank to utilise Harmonize platform

Citibank has around 200 million customer accounts covering 160 countries. The investment banking firms hold over $27 trillion of assets under their custody and administration. This collaboration will aim to put together Citi’s wide ranging custody network with METACO’s technology and digital solutions. This will lead the alliance to develop a platform where users can store and settle digital assets securely.

As per the release, the banking firm plans to fully integrate the crypto custody firm’s bank-grade digital asset custody platform, Harmonize into its infrastructure. However, this strategic partnership will allow the Citi group to extend its abilities to handle digital assets.

With the help of Harmonize platform, the banking firm will be able to expand securely and efficiently into new markets. However, technology developed under this collaboration will come under an integral section of the Citi group.

Okan Pekin, Citi’s Global Head of Securities Services, said that We are witnessing the increasing digitization of traditional investment assets along with new native digital assets. We are innovating and developing new capabilities to support digital asset classes, he added.

Citi bets on metaverse?

Earlier, Citi issued a report which suggested that the Metaverse ecosystem can be a market opportunity of around $13 trillion by 2030. The space can attract around 5 billion users worldwide. It added that not just key tech players but digital assets will also have a major impact.

The smartphone user base will a major part of the 5 billion users benchmark. While Metaverse users are limit to VR/AR devices then it can fetch an audience of around 1 billion. It calculated that this space will be a mix of nominal forms of money and crypto. However, it is expected that NFTs will play a key role.