Citigroup is rolling out tokenized shares of private companies for its wealth-management and institutional clients, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The bank is already in discussions with private firms about joining the platform and hopes the model becomes an industry standard.
The platform runs on blockchain infrastructure provided by SIX Digital Exchange (SDX), the Swiss regulated digital-asset subsidiary of SIX Group. It has already completed its first investment transaction, involving digital asset firm Kaleido. Eligible clients will be able to hold tokenized private-company interests alongside traditional securities in a single account, per the WSJ report. Citi says the arrangement offers greater transparency than special-purpose investment vehicles.
The rollout builds on a partnership announced a year earlier. Citi and SDX disclosed their collaboration in May 2025 at the Point Zero Forum in Switzerland, targeting a Q3 2025 launch. Under that agreement, Citi acts as custodian and tokenization agent on SDX's digital Central Securities Depositary (CSD) platform, bringing late-stage, pre-IPO equities to institutional and eligible investors.
Ryan Marsh, Head of Innovation and Strategic Partnerships at Citi's Investor Services and Issuer Services division, said in the 2025 announcement: "As a digital custodian and tokenization agent on the SDX platform, Citi will support its global investor and issuer clients with end-to-end servicing of tokenized assets. As tokenization scales, we are meeting client demand for access to emerging and relevant digital asset ecosystems and investments."
