Nikolas Sargeant
TL;DR
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Citigroup plans to begin offering Bitcoin custody later in 2026.
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The service will form part of Custody+, Citi’s new suite of custody, settlement, foreign exchange and cash-management solutions.
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Institutional clients will be able to safeguard Bitcoin, stocks and bonds through the same banking framework.
Citigroup plans to launch Bitcoin custody later this year, bringing the cryptocurrency into the same infrastructure it uses to safeguard traditional assets for institutional investors.
Citi’s institutional infrastructure division announced Custody+ on Tuesday. The new suite of services is designed to accelerate custody, settlement, foreign exchange and cash-management operations.
Although Citi has not provided a specific launch date, Custody+ will initially support Bitcoin. Clients will be able to access traditional and cryptocurrency custody services through the same framework.
Citi Brings Bitcoin Into Traditional Custody Infrastructure
Citi’s custody business serves institutional clients across more than 100 markets. The bank operates its own custody network in 62 of those markets.
Adding Bitcoin would allow eligible clients to store the cryptocurrency with the same financial institution that safeguards their stocks, bonds and other conventional assets.
This integrated model could make Bitcoin more accessible to institutions that do not want to establish a separate relationship with a crypto-native custodian. It could also simplify reporting, risk management and operational oversight by consolidating multiple asset classes with one provider.
“Custody+ is the product of a multi-year commitment to building infrastructure that matches the speed of our clients’ strategies,” Amit Agarwal, head of custody at Citi Investor Services, said.
The move reflects growing demand from professional investors for regulated digital-asset services offered by established financial institutions.
Citi’s Bitcoin custody plans form part of a broader effort to modernize its institutional infrastructure.
The bank has introduced technology in the United States that processes numerous custody-related events through a single system. Previously, these activities passed through several separate stages, potentially increasing processing times and operational complexity.
Citi says more than 80% of eligible events are now processed in real time. The updated system has reduced processing times by as much as 92%, while 96% of events are completed within two hours.
These improvements are particularly relevant to cryptocurrency markets, which operate continuously rather than following the limited trading hours of traditional financial markets.
Custody providers serving digital-asset clients require systems capable of processing transactions and managing risk outside normal banking hours. Custody+ is intended to provide near-real-time or real-time infrastructure that better matches this always-on environment.
Institutional Crypto Custody Competition Grows
Citigroup is not the first major financial institution to enter the Bitcoin custody market.
BNY began providing cryptocurrency custody to certain US clients in 2022. Fidelity Digital Assets and Coinbase also operate established custody platforms for institutional investors.
These companies offer secure storage, transaction settlement, reporting and other services designed to help asset managers, companies and professional investors hold cryptocurrencies.
Citi’s extensive international network could give it an advantage among institutions that already use the bank for global custody and cash management. However, it will compete with providers that have spent years developing specialized digital-asset infrastructure.
The US regulatory environment for bank-provided crypto custody became more favorable after the Securities and Exchange Commission withdrew Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 in 2025.
SAB 121 required companies safeguarding customers’ cryptocurrencies to record related assets and liabilities on their balance sheets. The accounting treatment made digital-asset custody particularly expensive for regulated banks because of their capital requirements.
Its withdrawal removed a significant obstacle for traditional financial institutions considering cryptocurrency custody services.
Citi’s planned launch illustrates how large banks are responding to that shift. Rather than treating Bitcoin as a separate, crypto-native product, the bank is incorporating it into the same infrastructure used for conventional institutional assets.
The success of Custody+ will ultimately depend on its pricing, security controls, geographic availability and the range of cryptocurrencies Citi chooses to support beyond Bitcoin.
