Global investment bank Citi will start offering bitcoin custody services for institutional clients within this year, blockchain media outlet Cryptopolitan reported on Aug. 18 local time.

Citi said it plans to incorporate bitcoin into Custody+, the platform its Investor Services unit uses for traditional securities.

The move is drawing attention because asset managers and institutional investors have wanted digital asset custody services from a regulated U.S. bank rather than a crypto specialist. Clients will be able to view and manage traditional holdings and bitcoin in one place within Custody+.

Citi said the service operates on a single framework that applies to both tokens and traditional securities. The platform is already moving tokenised deposits in some markets nearly instantly, 24 hours a day. Custody+ also includes real-time asset services, instant settlement, liquidity tools and a function Citi calls "AI-based market intelligence." Bitcoin is the first supported token.

Citi first disclosed plans for native crypto custody in November 2025. The project has been under development for close to about 3 years. At the time, Viswa Rup (비스와룹) Chatterjee, head of Citi Group Services, said the goal was to provide a "trusted custody solution" for asset managers and institutional clients. Citi also aimed for a structure in which the bank directly holds native tokens instead of going through external exchanges.

The buildout approach was also set out in stages. Chatterjee said some functions could be built in-house and others could use a "third-party lightweight solution." The latest announcement links that idea to Custody+ and specifies the launch timing as within this year.

The regulatory environment has also supported banks' entry. The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said in May 2025 that banks can provide crypto custody services. The GENIUS Act further eased conditions for banks to handle stablecoins and other blockchain assets. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also scrapped accounting guidance SAB 121, which had increased capital burdens when holding customer crypto, and replaced it with SAB 122.

Amid these changes, major U.S. financial firms are taking divergent approaches. U.S. Bancorp resumed institutional bitcoin custody services in September 2025, using NYDIG as a sub-custodian. BNY Mellon, Fidelity, Coinbase and Anchorage Digital have also already entered the market. In contrast, JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said the bank would allow customers to buy crypto but would not hold it directly. Deutsche Bank has said it will start custody services in 2026 with support from Bitpanda.

Citi is also advancing tokenised deposit infrastructure alongside its custody business. Citi worked in January with Intercontinental Exchange on applying tokenised deposits across clearing houses, and in July joined a Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication pilot to test 24-hour cross-border settlement using tokenised deposits. It is also participating as one of the U.S. banks supporting a tokenised deposit network through The Clearing House, which is scheduled to launch in the first half of 2027.

Citi's launch of bitcoin custody is seen as more than a simple new product rollout, and as an example of a banking trend to bind traditional securities infrastructure and digital asset infrastructure into a single platform. With bitcoin being incorporated first, the next focus is expected to be how far Citi will expand the range of supported assets.