REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Summary List PlacementCiti could be the next major bank to enter the digital currency market after surging client interest, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
With Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan warming up to cryptocurrencies, other large investment banks are having to look at making them more accessible to the public.
Itay Tuchman, Citi's global head of foreign exchange, told the FT services including trading, custody, and financing are under consideration right now.
"There are different options from our perspective, and we are considering where we can best service clients," he told the newspaper. "This is not going to be a prop-trading effort," he said, referring to proprietary trading, which uses money from the bank's own capital.
Citi published a research report on bitcoin in March that said the digital asset could become the currency of global trade. At the same time, the bank suggested it could go either way and suffer a "speculative implosion."
Goldman Sachs on Thursday opened up a new way for Wall Street investors to place big bets in the popular cryptocurrency through non-deliverable forwards, a derivative tied to bitcoin's price that is paid out in cash.
Tuchman said Citi has seen massive interest in bitcoin across a gamut of investors, including large asset managers. Some had requested for more research, while others wanted trading services and ways to finalize deals with cryptocurrencies.
But he said the bank is being cautious and shouldn't do anything that's not safe, or sound. It is reportedly in no rush to conclude how deeply involved it should be in crypto. "We will jump in when we are confident that we can build something that benefits clients and that regulators can support," he said.
"I don't have any FOMO [fear of missing out], because I believe that crypto is here to stay and that we are just at the very beginning of the market," he added. "This isn't a space race. There is room for more than just one flag."
Citi didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
NOW WATCH: How racism contributed to marijuana prohibition in the US
See Also:
- A crypto VC firm that made an early investment in Ethereum is betting big on Polkadot. The founders explain why dot could overtake ether — and flag 2 promising DeFi projects that should be on your radar.
- Changpeng Zhao went from flipping burgers at McDonald's to minting billions in crypto. The Binance CEO told us what a 'typical' day of his life looks like and shared a piece of career advice for ambitious young people.
- A founder of the world's largest NFT fund shares how he went from journalist to digital art maven — and the secrets to success for investing and building crypto wealth