- Citigroup plans to offer tokenized private company shares to wealthy and institutional clients.
- The platform will initially be available only to non-U.S. investors.
- Demand is growing as major private companies delay public listings.
- The move expands Citigroup's long-term tokenization strategy.
Citi Expands Into Tokenized Private Markets
Citigroup is preparing to launch a blockchain-based platform that will allow wealthy and institutional clients to trade tokenized shares of private companies.
According to reports, the offering will initially be limited to foreign investors, with the bank already holding discussions with several major private companies about participating in the initiative.
The platform aims to address growing demand for access to high-profile private firms that remain unavailable through traditional public markets.
As companies continue delaying IPOs, investors have increasingly searched for alternative ways to gain exposure before public listings occur.
Growing Demand For Private Market Access
The private equity market has become one of the hottest areas of interest on Wall Street.
Companies such as SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI have remained private despite reaching enormous valuations, creating strong investor demand for pre-IPO exposure.
Tokenization offers a potential solution by allowing blockchain-based representations of private company shares to be traded more efficiently and potentially with greater accessibility than traditional private market structures.
Citigroup believes the model could eventually become a standard feature across major financial institutions.
Building On Years Of Tokenization Efforts
The launch follows several years of blockchain development by Citigroup.
In 2023, the bank projected that tokenized securities could become a multi-trillion-dollar market by the end of the decade and described tokenization as one of blockchain's most promising use cases.
That same year, Citi introduced Token Services, a platform designed to facilitate near-instant cross-border settlement using tokenized deposits on private blockchain infrastructure.
More recently, the bank joined a consortium led by JPMorgan that is developing a tokenized deposit network for large institutional clients.
Wall Street's Tokenization Race Intensifies
Citigroup is far from alone in targeting tokenized private markets.
Republic has previously announced products linked to private companies including SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic. Robinhood also launched tokenized exposure to private firms for European users, helping accelerate industry interest in the sector.
While questions remain regarding shareholder rights, transfer restrictions, and regulatory treatment, the broader trend is becoming increasingly clear.
Major financial institutions are moving beyond tokenized bonds and stablecoins and are now beginning to bring private equity markets onchain.
For Citigroup, the new platform represents another step toward integrating blockchain technology into mainstream financial infrastructure.
