INSTITUTIONAL | Citi Launches On-Chain Platform for Trading Private Company Shares

Citigroup has launched an on-chain marketplace that allows wealthy and institutional investors to gain exposure to private company shares marking the latest push by a major Wall Street bank into tokenized financial assets as demand for private market investments grows.

The platform uses Digital Depositary Receipts (DDRs), on-chain securities issued and custodied by Citi that represent ownership interests in private companies. The blockchain infrastructure is operated by Switzerland’s SIX Digital Exchange while Citi said it plans to expand the offering to additional blockchain networks over time.

The service is initially available to non-U.S. investors, with access for U.S. clients planned at a later stage, according to the bank. Citi said it is already in discussions with several large private companies about making their shares available through the platform.

The launch comes as investors seek greater access to high-profile private companies that are remaining private for longer before pursuing public listings. Citi executives said the tokenized structure provides a more transparent alternative to special-purpose vehicles (SPVs), which have become a common route for investing in private firms but can obscure the underlying ownership structure.

The move also reflects a broader effort by global banks to bring traditional financial assets on-chain. Institutions, including Citi, have increasingly invested in tokenized deposits, securities, and real-world assets, betting that distributed ledger technology can streamline settlement, custody, and asset transfers while reducing operational costs.

Interest in tokenized private markets has accelerated alongside growing demand for pre-IPO investments, although companies such as OpenAI have previously cautioned investors that some tokenized products offered elsewhere do not represent direct equity ownership. Citi said its DDR structure is designed to provide a regulated, legally recognized investment vehicle backed by depositary receipts rather than synthetic economic exposure.

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