Bond Fragmentation! Citibank collaborates with BondbloX, allowing the purchase of various bonds for as little as one thousand dollars.

After launching the token service Citi Token Services, Citibank has announced that its Citigroup Securities Services has become a digital custodian participant on the BondbloX Bond Exchange (BBX). BondbloX Bond Exchange is the world's first bond exchange to use distributed ledger technology. It seems that the competition among financial giants to actively enter the blockchain field has begun!

First step in digital assets: Citigroup enters the "deposit token" market: Launching Citi Token Services

BondbloX Focuses on Bond Trading Supported by Distributed Ledger

BondbloX was founded in 2016 and is a team composed of debt capital market bankers and technology experts distributed across Singapore, India, and Mexico. Their vision is to provide a channel for all investors to easily access bond investments.

BondbloX Bond Exchange is the world's first fractional bond exchange, approved by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) as a Recognised Market Operator (RMO). It is supported by Citigroup and MassMutual Ventures as investors, with Citigroup and Northern Trust serving as global custodians.

Fractional Bonds Significantly Lower Trading Thresholds

Traditional bond trading has high investment thresholds, typically starting at $10 million among banks, and individual investors usually need at least $200,000 to purchase bonds. To lower the investment threshold, BondbloX uses distributed ledger technology to split bonds into smaller units, allowing investors to easily enter the bond market with as little as $1,000. BondbloX charges a 0.20% fee per transaction and a 0.20% annual fee based on asset size.

BondbloX offers a visualized app for viewing and placing orders, making buying and selling bonds as intuitive and simple as stock trading. All transactions are settled instantly through the exchange, with Citigroup providing seamless settlement and custody services in the backend, eliminating the typical one to three working days settlement wait for bonds.

CEO and Co-founder of BondbloX, Rahul Banerjee, stated:

Digital custody is the next significant step in transforming the bond market, making it more transparent, electronic, and accessible to everyone. Now, everyone can easily access bonds.

Nadine Teychenne, Head of Digital Assets at Citigroup Securities Services, commented:

This proprietary digital custody technology is scalable, allowing us to provide settlement and custody services for customers issuing assets on permissioned blockchain networks and Financial Market Infrastructures (FMI). It enables Citigroup to connect to these networks as they emerge and offer fully integrated custody services through a single operating model.

According to their press release, Citigroup Securities Services globally custodies, administers, and trustees assets of around $27.8 trillion and has a leading proprietary network covering over 60 markets.