Key Takeaways:
- Citi launched tokenized depositary receipts on a permissioned blockchain
- The platform targets the $75 billion late-stage pre-IPO equity market
- Distribution runs through Sygnum Bank and SBI Digital Markets
Back
Citi launches tokenized shares platform targeting $75B private market
Citigroup launched tokenized depositary receipts that let institutional investors trade shares of late-stage private companies on a permissioned distributed ledger, the bank said June 11.
"Private-company shares sitting right next to their Apple stock," Artem Korenyuk, Citi's global lead for digital assets enterprise alignment and services enablement, said in describing the investor experience.
The platform runs on R3's Corda permissioned ledger through SDX, the digital asset arm of SIX Swiss Exchange, which acts as the digital central securities depositary. Citi serves as custodian and tokenization agent, issuing the securities as authorized tokenized depositary receipts held through regulated financial institutions. Distribution at launch goes through Sygnum Bank in Switzerland and SBI Digital Markets in Singapore, targeting institutional and qualified investors across Europe and Asia. The platform is initially restricted to foreign investors, with US access planned for a later phase once regulatory conditions allow.
The move addresses a $75 billion late-stage pre-IPO equity market that has swelled as companies including SpaceX and Anthropic delay public debuts, leaving institutional capital with no clean secondary-market route into those positions. Trades in late-stage private equity currently involve manual, weeks-long processing and fragmented cap-table records. On SDX's platform, those trades execute near-instantaneously. Citi's own Tokenization 2030 report puts the base-case size of tokenized real-world assets at $5.5 trillion by 2030, up from $17 billion today, with private markets, real estate, and money-market funds leading the growth.
The launch represents a structural commitment to tokenization infrastructure by one of the largest US banks, even as institutional demand has been mixed in recent months. Citi said it is already in discussions with some of the largest private companies to participate.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
[1] Citigroup Expands Access to Private Markets With Tokenized Depositary Receipts[2] Citi in talks with companies for launch of tokenized shares - report[3] Citi to launch tokenized securities for private companies to its affluent users[4] Citi Launches Crypto Platform to Tokenize Private Company Shares[5] News Explorer — Citigroup's Blockchain-Based Digital Depositary Receipts Let Investors Access Private Company Shares
