Citigroup plans to launch Bitcoin custody services within the year, enabling institutional clients to hold the cryptocurrency alongside their traditional assets.

Citigroup plans to launch Bitcoin custody services later this year, enabling institutional clients to hold BTC alongside traditional assets such as stocks and bonds via its newly unveiled Custody+ platform. The exact launch date remains unannounced. The bank stated that Custody+ is designed to boost the efficiency of services including custody, settlement, foreign exchange, and cash management, with initial support for Bitcoin. Citigroup’s custody business currently spans over 100 markets, with a proprietary custody network in 62 of those regions. Once BTC custody is rolled out, institutional clients will no longer need separate independent crypto custody providers, as they can manage both traditional assets and Bitcoin uniformly through Citigroup. The firm added that its new system has already achieved real-time processing for more than 80% of relevant custody events, cutting processing time by up to 92%, with 96% of such events completed within two hours. As the U.S. regulatory landscape improves, large financial institutions are accelerating their entry into the crypto asset custody sector. The Bank of New York Mellon launched crypto asset custody services for some U.S. clients in 2022, while firms including Fidelity Digital Assets and Coinbase have also deployed institutional-grade digital asset custody offerings.