Citi says institutional Bitcoin custody will start later this year on Custody+

Citi said its institutional Bitcoin custody service will begin later this year through Custody+, placing native BTC safekeeping inside the same Investor Services framework it uses for traditional securities rather than a separate wallet product. The bank said clients will be able to access traditional holdings and Bitcoin through the same account structure, reporting stack, and risk and compliance workflows, with the rollout starting with Bitcoin. The August 18 launch of Custody+ packages eight capabilities across servicing, liquidity, analytics and control, while also incorporating Citi Token Services, the bank's private permissioned blockchain infrastructure for near-instant movement of tokenized deposits in select markets. Citi said the rollout coincides with completion of the U.S. deployment of its Single Event Processing technology, which has cut U.S. voluntary corporate action processing times by up to 92%, with 96% of events processed in under two hours and more than 80% of total event volume running in real time. Citi had previously pointed to a go-live before the end of 2026, and executives said the custody project had been under development for two to three years, initially focusing on stablecoin reserves and crypto ETF underlyings. The move places Citi in a crowded institutional custody market that includes BNY Mellon, U.S. Bank, State Street and Standard Chartered, with competition likely to center on whether Citi's integrated securities-services footprint across more than 100 markets is enough to win mandates from institutions that already use rival custodians.