tl;dr
Citigroup will partner with Switzerland's Six Digital Exchange (SDX) to offer tokenized shares in pre-IPO companies starting in the third quarter of this year. Citi will tokenize and custody shares on SDX’s platform, enabling institutional investors to access high-growth, venture-backed private comp...
Citigroup is teaming up with Switzerland's Six Digital Exchange (SDX) to offer tokenized shares in pre-IPO companies starting in Q3 2024. This collaboration aims to simplify liquidity management and ownership tracking for institutional investors by digitizing traditionally manual private market processes.
Citi will tokenize and custody shares on SDX’s platform, providing access to high-growth, venture-backed private companies. Leveraging Switzerland's regulatory framework and SDX's infrastructure, this initiative seeks to bring efficient and transparent solutions to private market investors and issuers.
The market for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) has experienced explosive growth, reaching $22.1 billion—a 245% increase since May 2023—with projections expecting $50 billion by the end of 2024. This surging interest highlights the growing importance of blockchain technology in enabling asset tokenization.
Major traditional financial institutions such as BlackRock, JP Morgan, and BNY Mellon are actively embracing blockchain and Web3 innovations. For instance, BlackRock’s tokenized-asset fund BUIDL has achieved a market capitalization of $2.8 billion since its March 2024 launch. JP Morgan and BNY Mellon have also conducted tokenization pilot programs, utilizing advanced technologies like Chainlink’s cross-chain interoperability protocol.
Citigroup’s move into tokenizing private shares reflects a broader trend where established financial powerhouses are blending traditional finance with innovative blockchain solutions, unlocking new levels of liquidity, transparency, and investor access in private markets.