According to a report by Reuters, U.S. investment bank Citigroup is considering providing custody and payment services for stablecoins and cryptocurrency ETFs, seen as the latest sign of traditional large financial institutions accelerating their entry into the cryptocurrency field after recent policy loosening in Washington.
Reports indicate that Citigroup, U.S. fintech company Fiserv, Bank of America, and other financial institutions are exploring entry into the stablecoin market. This wave of actions was triggered by the recent passage of stablecoin legislation (GENIUS Act) by the U.S. Congress, paving the way for the widespread application of stablecoins in payment and settlement scenarios.
New regulations require that stablecoin issuers must fully reserve with "safe assets" such as U.S. Treasury bonds or cash, which also opens new business opportunities for traditional custody banks—custody and management of these reserve assets.
Biswarup Chatterjee, head of global partnerships and innovation at Citigroup's service division, stated: "Providing custody services for assets backing stablecoins is our first priority."
Although Citigroup expressed last month that it is considering issuing its own stablecoin, this is the first time it has explicitly revealed a broader digital asset strategy. Biswarup Chatterjee further pointed out that Citigroup is also studying providing custody services for the digital assets backing cryptocurrency investment products (such as ETFs).
Taking Bitcoin ETFs as an example, since the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) allowed such products to be listed last year, asset management companies have been rushing to launch related products. Among them, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has reached a market value of approximately $90 billion.
Currently, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase nearly monopolizes the field, providing custody services for over 80% of cryptocurrency ETF issuers.
Citigroup is also exploring the use of stablecoins to accelerate payment processes. Traditional bank cross-border payments often take several days or longer, while Citigroup has launched a blockchain-based "Tokenized USD Payments" service, allowing instant fund transfers between accounts in New York, London, and Hong Kong 24/7.
In the future, Citigroup also plans to allow customers to transfer directly between accounts using stablecoins, or to instantly convert them into U.S. dollars for payment, and is currently discussing various application scenarios with corporate clients.
Observers note that all these changes are closely related to the shift in the regulatory atmosphere in the United States. In the past, regulators have always been conservative about traditional financial institutions' involvement in crypto assets, but since the Trump administration took office, the stance has clearly loosened.
However, Citigroup and other institutions entering the cryptocurrency market must still comply with existing regulations, including anti-money laundering and foreign exchange control requirements. Biswarup Chatterjee emphasized that custody operations must ensure the legitimacy of asset sources and strengthen internet and operational security to prevent theft. As for whether to issue stablecoins, he admitted that they are still actively evaluating.
"Citigroup Commands the Cryptocurrency Market! Targeting Custodian Opportunities for Stablecoins and Bitcoin ETFs" was originally published on BlockTempo.
