Citigroup has expanded its Citi Token Services platform to Japan and the United Arab Emirates. With this expansion, its tokenized-deposit service based on blockchain has reached to seven markets. The service is meant for corporate and financial-institution clients that need to move liquidity outside traditional banking hours.
Citi Token Services is currently live in the United States, Ireland, Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Japan, and the UAE. The platform uses tokenized deposits and a private blockchain to handle cross-border payments, liquidity, and collateral. Citi designed the service to help clients move their liquidity almost instantly and programmatically.
LATEST: 🏦 Citi has expanded its Token Services platform to Japan and the UAE, bringing its blockchain-based 24/7 liquidity and payments network to seven markets total. pic.twitter.com/uCA8V1c653
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Unlike many crypto networks, it does not operate on a public blockchain like Ethereum. Instead, Citi relies on a private, permissioned blockchain that the bank owns and manages itself.
The service is aimed at institutional customers rather than retail crypto users. Citi said it continues to process billions of dollars in transactions through the platform.
The expansion has different applications in the two new markets. In Japan, Citi Token Services supports U.S. dollar transactions. In the UAE, the service allows clients to manage both U.S. dollar and euro liquidity.
One important point is the difference between tokenized deposits and stablecoins. A tokenized deposit represents money already held as a bank deposit, with blockchain technology being used to move or settle that money digitally.
Citi said customers do not need to hold or manage separate tokens to use its service. Instead, the platform connects their existing Citi accounts with the bank’s tokenized cash infrastructure.
Stablecoins work differently. They are generally issued as transferable digital tokens designed to maintain a stable value, often against a fiat currency. Their issuers, reserves and blockchain infrastructure can vary.
Citi’s model keeps the tokenized money within the bank’s existing financial infrastructure. The private blockchain gives the bank control over the network while allowing programmable movement of liquidity between participating markets.
For corporate treasury teams, the ability to move funds outside conventional banking cut-off times is one of the main potential benefits. Citi said clients in Japan and the UAE can move liquidity across participating markets without being restricted by normal banking hours or holiday calendars.
That could be useful for cross-border payments, collateral management and other treasury activities where timing matters. Citi executives highlighted the role of the new markets in the bank’s expanding 24/7 payments and liquidity network. The bank described Japan and the UAE as important markets because of their international corporate and financial flows.
The expansion also comes as other major banks develop blockchain-based financial infrastructure. JPMorgan’s Kinexys business, for example, operates blockchain-based institutional financial infrastructure and has reported significant transaction volumes.
Banks are therefore experimenting with tokenized deposits alongside stablecoins rather than necessarily treating the two as competing technologies. The models differ in their issuers, legal structures and underlying infrastructure.
For the broader digital-asset sector, Citi’s move is another example of blockchain technology being applied within traditional banking rather than only through crypto-native networks.
The Citi Token Services rollout now covers seven markets and multiple currencies. Its focus is on institutional cash and liquidity management, with clients using the bank’s existing accounts rather than having to manage a separate digital token.
Whether tokenized deposits eventually become widely used alongside or instead of other forms of digital money remains uncertain. But Citi’s expansion shows that major banks are continuing to test blockchain-based systems for practical financial operations.
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