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Banking giant Citigroup is considering launching crypto trading and custody services.

American Banking giant Citigroup is considering launching crypto trading, custody, and financing services.
American Banking giant Citigroup is considering launching crypto trading, custody, and financing services.

Citigroup’s global head of foreign exchange, Itay Tuchman, told the Financial Times in a report published Friday that the bank had seen a “very rapid” accumulation of interest in bitcoin from large clients since last August. “There are different options from our perspective, and we are considering where we can provide the best service to clients. This is not going to be a prop-trading effort,” said Tuchman, referring to proprietary trading in which banks trade with their own money to make a profit.

Citigroup is in no rush to launch crypto services.

The American banking giant is in no rush to launch crypto services. Tuchman said the bank would jump in when it is confident it can build something that benefits clients and that regulators can support. “I don’t have any FOMO [fear of missing out] because I believe that crypto is here to stay and that we are just at the very beginning of the market,” Tuchman said. “This isn’t a space race. There is room for more than just one flag,” he added.

Citi claimed bitcoin could become “an international trade currency” as it evolves.

Earlier this year, Citi published a report saying that bitcoin could become “an international trade currency” as it evolves. “Perceptions about what makes bitcoin important continue to evolve and create new opportunities while increasing its perception towards becoming mainstream,” the bank said at the time. The report, entitled “Bitcoin: At the Tipping Point”, charts the evolution of bitcoin from a form of payment to its current status as a store of value. The banking giant forecast that bitcoin’s core properties combined with its global reach and neutrality could see it morph into the “currency of choice” for international trade in around seven years.

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