The press release published on August 18 indicated that Custody+ will act as a suite of near- and real-time services designed to accommodate financial markets increasingly moving toward continuous trading and faster settlement. Given one of the key differences between traditional financial assets and crypto – namely, the fact that the latter operates 24/7 – Citi explained that the crypto-focused part of the business will launch later this year.

“Digital assets already operate on near-instant settlement, 24/7. Citi expects to go live with digital asset custody later this year, starting with the custody of Bitcoin. This is being built on Citi’s common digital asset architecture, and we will offer a one-stop custody experience. Clients will access traditional and crypto custody capabilities within the same framework for an integrated experience.”

This initiative provides a more concrete timeline of Citi’s plans regarding the cryptocurrency industry, as it said last year that it was preparing to launch such custody in 2026 without a clear timeline.

Aside from starting with BTC, the banking giant failed to disclose which digital assets are scheduled to follow suit.

Citi has dabbled in the industry for years. It ramped up its efforts in 2021 by adding up to 100 people to its cryptocurrency team. Meanwhile, other US institutional behemoths, such as Jane Street Group, have increased their ETF exposure to BTC.