The multinational financial services firm Citibank has partnered with METACO – a digital asset custody provider – to start developing and piloting digital asset custody services.
- In a press release from Citi, the bank revealed that the companies will work together to build a platform that lets clients securely store and settle digital assets.
- The bank will fully integrate METACO’s custody platform, Harmonize, into its current infrastructure. This will extend the bank’s existing capabilities into digital assets while expanding them across its global network into new markets.
- To be clear, this partnership is unrelated to cryptocurrencies per se. A spokesperson from Citi told CryptoPotato that the pilot would focus specifically on tokenized securities – such as tokenized bonds and equities.
- The technological changes will be an “integral” part of Citi’s institutional client strategy around digital assets, according to the release.
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“We are innovating and developing new capabilities to support digital asset classes that are becoming increasingly relevant to our clients,” said Okan Pekin, Global Head of Securities Services at Citi.
- METACO CEO and Founder Adrien Treccani added that the partnership is a “market-defining moment for institutional adoption of digital assets.”
- METACO has supported multiple implementations of its technology stack for institutions regulated by FINMA, BaFin, FCA, Banco de España, and MAS.
- Citi currently holds $27 trillion in assets under management, spanning 63 markets.
- A slew of banks began offering cryptocurrency (ex. Bitcoin) custody services last year, with the Boston-based Slate Street announcing such services for multiple top cryptos in March.
- Some larger banks, such as Bank of America, feel barred from entering the digital asset market with such services due to regulatory pressure.