Citi, one of the world’s largest custodians with nearly $27 trillion in assets, has announced a strategic partnership with Swiss crypto custodial firm Metaco, which seeks to offer custody of digital assets.
Citi will leverage Metaco’s crypto custody technology to develop a platform for its customers, the two companies said in a statement. Press release Wednesday.
🤝🏻 We are incredibly proud to share this @Citione of the world leaders #guardian banks, chose METACO to develop and pilot digital asset custody capabilities.
Read the full press release here: https://t.co/W451ALDtL3#digitalassets #digitalcustody #globalcustodian pic.twitter.com/ziIGfcJLfO
— METACO (@metaco_sa) June 22, 2022
Citi will integrate Metaco’s Harmonize platform
To provide a seamless customer experience, Citi will undertake the full integration of Metaco’s Harmonize, a platform that offers bank-grade crypto custody and orchestration. It is this platform that will help the banking giant to develop and pilot its custody of digital assets, the press release adds.
Commenting on the collaboration and what it means for Citi, the bank’s global head of securities services, Okan Pekin, said:
“We are witnessing the increasing digitization of traditional investment assets as well as new native digital assets. We innovate and develop new capabilities to support digital asset classes that are becoming increasingly relevant to our clients.”
Citi has more than 200 million customer accounts and its business activities are accessible in more than 160 countries around the world.
The bank’s move to develop a crypto custody platform sees it join a growing group of banking giants exploring and offering crypto services. These include some of the world’s largest depositories like BNY Mellon, JPMorgan, State Street, Northern Trust and HSBC.
