Citigroup’s Citi Token allows clients to transfer assets through private blockchain

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Citigroup has introduced a digital token service called Citi Token for institutions to enable fast cross-border money transfers for institutional clients.

Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, it operates on a private blockchain. Additionally, Citi Token Services will offer automated trade finance solutions around the clock.

Shahmir Khaliq, Citi’s global head of services, said that digital asset technologies could improve the regulated financial system by applying new technologies to existing legal tools and established regulatory frameworks.

“Digital asset technologies have the potential to upgrade the regulated financial system by applying new technologies to existing legal instruments and well-established regulatory frameworks,”

Shahmir Khaliq, Citi’s global head of services.

Citi’s initiative aims to simplify transactions by digitizing bank guarantees and letters of credit. Citi Token services have been implemented in a global cash management pilot, allowing clients to transfer liquidity between Citi branches around the clock.

Ryan Rugg, Citi’s global head of digital assets, emphasized that Citi Token offers corporate treasurers a new way to manage global liquidity in real time, addressing challenges related to service cutoff times and availability gaps.

″[If] you’re a large multinational client where you have multiple bank accounts in multiple different regions across borders and you keep buffers of cash in each of these regions, it’s really an inefficient use of cash,” Rugg said.

With Citi Token, Rugg described that it is now possible to send money within seconds, even when there is a time difference, such as between 5 p.m. in the U.S. and 5 a.m. in Singapore.

He also highlighted Citi’s alignment with industry initiatives like the Regulated Liability Network and expressed excitement about how shared ledger technology can enhance Citi’s services and the broader financial system through collaboration with regulators and industry partners.

“If regulation changes and regulators get comfortable with the public, we will definitely go down that route, but right now, from a regulatory standpoint, we’re sticking with permissioned,” Rugg said.

In a March report, Citi predicted that the digital asset sector was approaching an “inflection point,” with crypto adoption being driven primarily by the rise of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and the tokenization of real-world assets.

The report anticipates that by 2030, the digital securities token market will be worth $4 trillion to $5 trillion. This growth is due to the significant benefits of tokenization, which include improving efficiency, enabling fractional ownership and broadening access to more investors. Additionally, Citi expects around $1 trillion of the repo, securities financing and collateral market to be tokenized by 2030.

Citi’s partnership with Maersk

In partnership with integrated logistics company Maersk, Citi conducted a pilot project to evaluate the applicability of a digitized token and smart contract guarantee solution in the shipping industry, which is known for its complex payment collection and transaction processing challenges.

Citi revealed that the technology tested in the pilot could reduce transaction processing times, shifting from days to minutes.

Marie-Laure Martin, regional treasury manager for the Americas at Maersk, expressed satisfaction with their collaboration with Citi, which shows that the solution has promising applications in trade finance.

The technology offers a fully digital process to both buyers and sellers and provides instant payment capabilities.