Citi's Token Services for Cash has gone live, enabling institutional clients to move money between branches around the world 24/7.
Citi Token Services for Cash processes multimillion dollar transactions and provides clients with 24/7, always-on cross-border liquidity and payments between participating branches.
It uses a private and permissioned blockchain that is solely owned and managed by Citi, ensuring, says the bank, safety and soundness for clients and ease of use. Clients are not required to hold or manage any tokens to access the services.
Following pilots last year, the service is now live for commercial transactions, with Mars onboard as the first client.
Mayela Stuparitz, global treasury director, Mars, says: "This solution has enabled us to initiate and program instant payments and liquidity movement between our Citi accounts, reducing the friction caused by cutoff times and streamline our transactions by tokenizing cash.
"With Citi’s private blockchain, we can access all the benefits of blockchain, without any complexity or additional risk - our processes, reporting, and operational risk remain identical."
Meanwhile, a related offering, Citi Token Services for Trade, has seen pilot transactions in partnership with shipping agents CB Fenton and GAC Panama Shipping.
The product is designed to replace transactions such as guarantees and letters of credit with smart contracts backed by tokenised cash. The completely digital process will enable 24/7 settlements, when predetermined criteria are met, between Citi clients and their counterparties to automatically execute and provide provisional payments.
Ryan Rugg, head, digital assets, Treasury and Trade Solutions, Citi, says: "The continued progress of Citi Token Services is a key component of Citi’s pursuit of real-time, always-on services for its institutional clients.
"By using Distributed Ledger Technology and smart contracts, Citi has created a patented programmable payment and liquidity platform, which will reduce costs and streamline processes."