Citibank, Swiss Crypto Firm Partner To Develop Bitcoin Custody Services

Citibank, a major global banking institution, revealed on Wednesday that it has hired Switzerland-headquartered crypto custody firm Metaco to establish a digital asset custody platform.

The collaboration will focus on tokenized securities, which are representations of stocks and bonds that are transferred and settled using blockchain technology, according to an email from a Citibank official.

Citibank, which manages more than $27 trillion in assets, has tapped the expertise of Metaco to construct its digital assets custody platform instead of building its own.

According to a report by Business Wire, through this partnership, Metaco’s digital solutions and technology will be merged with Citibank’s enormous custody network to create a platform that would enable consumers to securely retain and settle digital assets such as Bitcoin (BTC).

Image: Metaco

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Citibank Expands Digital Asset Capabilities

This agreement between Citibank and Metaco enables the bank to expand its current capabilities to include digital assets by utilizing its current operational, technological, and service approach.

Citibank’s Global Head of Securities Services, Okan Pekin, remarked, “We are witnessing the rapid digitization of both traditional investment assets and native digital assets.”

Citigroup is not the only traditional financial institution to have teamed with Metaco for digital asset services in recent years; Standard Chartered, Union Bank of the Philippines, BBVA, and DBS Bank have also done so.

Citi, like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, offers Bitcoin futures trading, and in November 2021, the bank announced preparations to hire 100 more employees to bolster its division of digital assets for institutional clients.

Pekin stated, “We are developing and innovating new capabilities to support digital asset classes that are growing in importance to our clients.”

Crypto total market cap at $894 billion on the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com

Citi-Metaco Collab A ‘Market-Defining’ Moment

Metaco is the leading provider of technology to financial institutions within the digital asset industry. Numerous significant implementations have been backed by the crypto custody firm, including those of BaFin, FINMA, Banco de Espaa, FCA, and MAS.

Adrien Treccani, CEO and Founder of Metaco, commented, “We are thrilled to partner with Citi, one of the top securities services businesses, to support their mission to bridge digital and traditional assets.”

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Treccani added that this project is a “market-defining moment” for the institutional adoption of crypto assets.

Metaco is a technology firm founded in Switzerland in 2015 with the purpose of enabling financial and non-financial organisations to safely manage their digital asset business and profit from the expanding digital asset market.

Citi has around 200 million customer accounts and conducts business in over 160 countries and territories.

Featured image from Medium, chart from TradingView.com