Adoption increasing as Citi confirms Bitcoin custody launch for institutional clients, starting later this year

Citi Bank confirmed it's moving ahead with native Bitcoin custody for institutional clients, launching later this year under its new "Custody+" platform

Unlike ETF-based exposure, this is direct custody as Citi will actually hold BTC, folded into the same reporting and tax framework it uses for stocks and bonds, running 24/7

Down the line they're also planning cross-margining, so institutions could post BTC as collateral alongside treasuries in the same account

Worth noting this has apparently been in development for 3+ years, so it's less a sudden pivot and more infrastructure finally surfacing. Citi's securities business sits on roughly $30T in client assets, and this comes alongside similar moves from Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan