Citigroup announced that it expects to launch a digital-asset custody service later this year, beginning with Bitcoin.

The offering will be part of Custody+, a new suite of custody and settlement tools. 

Citi plans to incorporate digital assets into the infrastructure it already uses for traditional securities, giving institutional clients access to both through a shared system.

Citi provides custody services in more than 100 markets and operates proprietary custody networks in 62 of them.

Custody+ is built on the bank’s patented Single Event Processing technology, which has now been rolled out across the United States. 

The suite offers immediate settlement in Citi’s proprietary markets, along with foreign-exchange execution, automated hedging, liquidity management, and AI-supported market information.

“Citi's Services business spends more than $2 billion each year on its platform strategy,” said Chris Cox, Head of Investor Services at Citi.

The bank also operates Citi Token Services, which supports around-the-clock transfers of tokenized deposits in certain markets.

The recent announcement provides a clearer schedule for a project previously disclosed in October. 

Citi would join BNY Mellon, State Street, and Standard Chartered among large financial institutions providing or developing direct digital-asset custody. 

Such services allow institutions to hold Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies with a custodian instead of relying solely on exchange-traded funds or outside providers.