Citibank is one of the world's 20 largest banks in terms of asset value but it is reluctant to jump on the blockchain train. The entity once had a plan to launch its own cryptocurrency asset but it turns out it has since changed its stance.
What's even weirder, is that instead of following the latest technology trends like many of its competitors, Citibank is betting on the same old SWIFT that drives everyone crazy. In times when big players such as JP Morgan are launching their own digital assets in hope of transforming the financial system, Citibank is more into developing and improving the already existing solutions.
The global head of innovations for treasury and trade solutions at Citibank, Gulru Atak was quoted saying:
“Based on our learnings from that experiment we actually decided to make meaningful improvements in the existing rails. We are considering the fintechs as well or the regulators around the world as well, including SWIFT.”
Nevertheless, Citibank has been flirting with cryptocurrencies for quite a while now. In fact, rumor has it, the bank has been sniffing around digital assets since 2015. This led many to speculate that the entity was soon to launch its in-house token dubbed Citicoin. Well, it turns out that was never going to happen despite Citibank's head of innovation, Ken Moore, claims the bank is researching distributed ledger technologies.
Despite the previously shown interest, Citibank is obviously on a hunt for short-term gains, as it appears unwilling to invest more time and funds into blockchain technology. The SWIFT payment system offers safety and while many institutions prefer to stay on the safe side, many others are tired of its tremendous tax rates and tens of others downsides. Over 10,000 financial entities use SWIFT, which means that transforming SWIFT would be much harder than jumping on the blockchain bandwagon at this very moment.
Notably, Citibank is not entirely giving up on blockchain technologies as it is hoping one day they will indeed become the standard. It is just not into launching its own token. For better or worse JP Morgan did launch JPM Coin, which is so centralized that many experts refuse to deem it a cryptocurrency at all.
Read the full article