Wall Street Giant Citi Plans to Launch Bitcoin & Crypto Custody Later This Year

$3 trillion Wall Street giant Citi is preparing to roll out institutional digital asset custody services later this year, starting with Bitcoin. The move comes as Citi unveiled Custody+ amid massive demand among institutional investors for custody services.

Citi Rolls Out Custody+ amid Always-On Industry Demand

Citi Investor Services launched Custody+, a suite of real-time custody solutions designed for changing capital markets. Notably, the industry is shifting towards continuous markets, compressed settlement cycles, and technology disruption.

The announcement comes as the bank completed the rollout of its patented Single Event Processing (SEP) technology in the United States. Custody+ also integrates real-time settlement, cash and liquidity management, FX, and AI-powered market intelligence.

“Citi’s Services business invests over US$2 billion annually in its platform strategy with a focus on speed, scale and availability,” said Chris Cox, Head of Investor Services at Citi. He added that “Custody+ is a clear example of this investment as we build infrastructure to eliminate latency and drag for institutional investor clients.”

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Bitcoin and Crypto Custody Integration Plans

Within this platform, Citi confirmed it expects to go live with digital asset custody later this year, starting with Bitcoin. The service will be built on Citi’s common digital asset architecture and offer a one-stop experience, allowing clients to access traditional securities custody and crypto custody within the same framework.

Through Citi Token Services, Citi also enables near-instant movement of tokenized deposits on a 24/7 basis across select markets. This aligns with earlier comments from bank executives.

Citi revealed plans for key management, wallet infrastructure, and integration of Bitcoin into the same custody, reporting, tax, and control frameworks used for traditional assets such as equities and bonds.

The custody offering is intended for institutional clients, including asset managers who prefer regulated, bank-grade custody solutions rather than managing private keys. This comes amid broader Wall Street expansion into digital assets, including tokenization efforts and growing institutional interest in Bitcoin.

Citigroup is even launching tokenized shares of private companies. This will enable clients to trade shares of companies such as Anthropic, OpenAI, and Ripple.