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Banking giant Citigroup is considering launching crypto trading, custody, and financing services. Citi’s global head of foreign exchange, Itay Tuchman, has said that the bank had seen a “very rapid” accumulation of interest in bitcoin from large clients since last August – a theme which has been consistent across all major financial institutions that have either been considering, or have made moves to be involved in crypto. Tuchman went on to say:
“There are different options from our perspective and we are considering where we can best service clients. This is not going to be a prop-trading effort.”
So, while there are many avenues that they can go down when offering crypto to their clients, what they will not be consider is proprietary trading in which banks trade with their own money to make a profit.
Tuchman has made it clear that Citi, however, 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. What is very interesting are Tuchman’s comments about the crypto space long-term, saying that he believes that cryptos are here to stay and that we are still at the beginning:
“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. This is not a space race. There is room for more than just one flag.”
A couple of months back in March, Citi published a report saying that Bitcoin could become an international trade currency. Citi is the latest Wall Street financial institution to consider moving into the crypto market, following the lead of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
