Investment bank Citigroup launches own tokenization service

The investment bank hopes to achieve faster settlement times and smoother global payments with its own blockchain solution.

In a press release announced the launch of a digital token service by U.S. financial services company Citi.

According to the press release, the "Citi Token Service" allows funds and assets to be tokenized and moved quickly around the world. The service is initially available only to institutional clients.

Citi does not use a public blockchain like Bitcoin or Ethereum, but a private solution.

Using blockchain, Citi aims to guarantee global payment transactions 24 hours a day. Transaction times can also be reduced from several days to a few minutes, the report said.

"Digital asset technology" has the "potential to innovate the regulated financial system by applying new technologies to existing legal instruments and established regulatory frameworks," said a Citigroup spokesman.

The bank's private solution certainly deviates from the blockchain credo of decentralization and permissionlessness. However, it shows that banks are increasingly moving into the crypto and blockchain sector.

The most recent example is Deutsche Bank, which offers custody of crypto and digital assets in a partnership with Taurus.