TechFlow, August 15 — According to Reuters, Citibank is exploring custody and payment services for stablecoins and cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Biswarup Chatterjee, head of global partnerships and innovation at Citibank, said the bank's priority is providing custody services for high-quality assets backing stablecoins.
Approximately $250 billion in stablecoins have been issued globally. Citibank plans to develop services including custodial management of assets backing stablecoins, digital asset custody for crypto ETFs, and payment and settlement services based on stablecoins. The bank has already launched a blockchain-based "tokenized" U.S. dollar payment system enabling 24-hour cross-border payments between New York, London, and Hong Kong.
The move follows recent legislation passed by the U.S. Congress requiring stablecoin issuers to hold safe assets such as U.S. Treasury bonds or cash as reserves. Besides Citibank, financial institutions including Bank of America and Fiserv are also considering expanding into stablecoin-related businesses.
