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Citigroup has taken a significant step in the tokenization of traditional financial assets, <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/06/11/citi-opens-new-route-into-private-markets-with-tokenized-share-offering" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">launching a product called Digital Depositary Receipts (DDRs)</a> that places private company shares on the blockchain. The bank acts as both issuer and custodian, a structure it describes as a first for a global bank of its scale.
<h2 id="how-the-product-works">How the product works</h2>
<cite>The structure is based on depositary receipts, a longstanding financial product that allows investors to gain exposure to shares through a bank-issued security. Citi has adapted that model for private companies and recorded the securities on blockchain infrastructure operated by Swiss market operator SIX.</cite><cite>SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) is Switzerland's first and only distributed ledger-based Central Securities Depository, licensed and supervised by FINMA, Switzerland's financial market regulator.</cite>
<cite>Investors own the depositary receipt rather than the underlying shares directly, while Citi acts as both issuer and custodian.</cite><cite>The bank argues the approach could make private-market investing simpler and more transparent than existing structures, which often rely on special-purpose vehicles and multiple intermediaries.</cite>
<cite>The first publicized transaction involved Kaleido, an institutional tokenization and digital-asset platform. A SIX document identifies the instrument as an unsponsored digital depositary receipt issued by Citibank, N.A., representing deposited voting common stock of Kaleido, Inc., under ISIN CH1507409733.</cite><cite>The Kaleido DDRs were not registered under the U.S. Securities Act and can be offered or transferred only through offshore Regulation S transactions to non-U.S. persons. Holders must be accredited investors, and the DDR is not the same as holding the underlying shares.</cite>
<h2 id="the-market-opportunity-and-what-comes-next">The market opportunity and what comes next</h2>
<cite>The platform targets 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.</cite><cite>Trades in late-stage private equity currently involve manual, weeks-long processing and fragmented cap-table records. On SDX's platform, according to the bank, those trades execute near-instantaneously.</cite>
<cite>The platform is initially restricted to foreign investors, with U.S. access planned for a later phase once regulatory conditions allow.</cite><cite>The bank said it plans to expand the offering over time and eventually support public blockchain networks, potentially allowing a wider range of investors and institutions to participate.</cite><cite>Citi says it is already in discussions with some of the largest private companies to participate.</cite>
The ambition behind the product is considerable. <cite>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 range runs from $2.7 trillion to $8.2 trillion, depending on regulatory velocity.</cite>
Sources: <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/06/11/citi-opens-new-route-into-private-markets-with-tokenized-share-offering" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CoinDesk: Citi opens new route into private markets with tokenized share offering</a> <a href="https://www.citigroup.com/global/news/press-release/2025/citi-and-sdx-join-forces-to-unlock-access-to-tokenized-private-market-assets-for-global-issuers-and-investors" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Citigroup Press Release: Citi and SDX Join Forces to Unlock Access to Tokenized Private Market Assets</a> <a href="https://news.bitcoin.com/wall-streets-next-onchain-test-gives-citi-clients-tokenized-access-to-private-shares/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bitcoin.com News: Wall Street's Next Onchain Test Gives Citi Clients Tokenized Access to Private Shares</a>

Citi puts private company shares on the blockchain

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