Investment banking giant Citigroup has released research on how property technology could affect the housing market, mentioning virtual estate in the metaverse and cryptocurrency-backed mortgages. In a report released Wednesday titled, “Home of the Future: PropTech — Towards a Frictionless Housing Market?” Citi said crypto, blockchain and property in the metaverse had the “potential to transform the traditional real estate market.” While crypto-backed mortgages could streamline the process of purchasing a home, many individuals have seen investments in metaverse property grow in the last two years. Citi reported that property loans linked to crypto assets could allow investors to “utilize …

Crypto lending platform Nexo says that its strong balance sheet means it can ride to the rescue to provide liquidity during the current market turmoil by acquiring the assets of struggling crypto firms. In a blog post, Nexo announced that it is currently receiving advice from banking giant Citigroup on how best to acquire the assets of insolvent crypto firms so that investors can regain access to blocked funds. Last week Antoni Trenchev, co-founder and managing partner at Nexo, told Bloomberg that the current crypto crash reminds him of the Panic of 1907 — where major Wall Street institutions were …

Twenty-three agonizing days have passed since Bitcoin (BTC) last closed above $32,000 and the 10% rally that took place on May 29 and 30 is currently evaporating as BTC price retraces toward $30,000. The move back to $30,000 simply confirms the strong correlation to traditional assets and in the same period, the S&P 500 also retreated 0.6%. Weaker corporate profits could pressure the stock market due to rising inflation and the upcoming U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate hikes, according to Citi strategist Jamie Fahy. As reported by Yahoo! Finance, Citi’s research note to clients stated: “Essentially, despite concerns regarding recession, …

PayPal-backed cryptocurrency firm Talos is becoming the latest unicorn in the industry, reaching a $1.25 billion valuation following new funding. Talos has raised $105 million in Series B funding round led by a major global growth equity firm, General Atlantic, according to an announcement released on May 10. The funding will help Talos extend its institutional-grade digital asset platform as well as accelerate the firm’s expansion into the Asia-Pacific region and Europe. The raise featured major firms in both the traditional finance and the crypto industry, including Ken Fox’s private equity firm Stripes, BNY Mellon, Citi, Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, …

Alex Kriete, Co-Head of Digital Assets at Citi, announced his resignation from the banking giant after 11 years at the firm on March 10 via LinkedIn. He stated in his post that he intends to devote himself full-time to developing a new cryptocurrency company but provided no additional details at the time. Kriete co-led the Digital Assets Group with Greg Girasole for less than a year since the unit launched in June, 2021. Girasole also announced his departure via LinkedIn and, together him and Kriete plan to start their own blockchain-related venture. The two said they will share more details …

A Wall Street veteran with over 14 years of experience has launched a new venture fund dedicated to cryptocurrency and blockchain startups, offering further evidence that smart money investors are pivoting to the emerging world of digital assets. On Monday, former Citi executive Matt Zhang introduced Hivemind Capital Partners, a $1.5 billion multi-strategy fund designed to bootstrap promising crypto plays and “institutionalize crypto investing.” The fund will prioritize projects focused on building crypto infrastructure, virtual worlds and programmable money, and will also trade digital assets as part of its underlying strategy. Hivemind’s first technology partner is Algorand, a proof-of-stake protocol …

American multinational investment bank Citi announced it had appointed Puneet Singhvi to lead the digital assets division of its Institutional Clients Group (ICG) starting on Dec. 1. In addition to appointing Singhvi on Nov. 22, Citi is hiring 100 additional personnel to for its digital assets division. The move indicates a concerted effort to beef up the financial group’s understanding of digital assets. Singhvi was previously the head of blockchain and digital assets in Citi’s trading business Citi Group is the world’s largest issuer of credit cards, and its ICG serves corporations, financial institutions, and governments around the world. An …

Major Wall Street bank executives will appear before the United States Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday to discuss the role of their financial institutions in the recovery of the American economy. Democratic lawmakers plan to grill a number of major bank execs, whose firms saw record profits during the COVID-19 pandemic while average Americans struggled to make ends meet. In prepared testimonies posted on Tuesday, CEOs at the Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo described their respective banks' responses to major challenges such as inequality, diversity, climate change, taxes, as well as how their banks handle cryptocurrencies. This year …

Tony McLaughlin, managing director of transaction banking at Citibank, is of the opinion that digital money is the current theater for another paradigm-shifting format war. Speaking during the ongoing Finnovex Virtual Summit, McLaughlin said that digital money appeared odds-on to become the future of money. However, he argued that digital money itself was still in the process of significant evolution along three lines — financial institutions, fintech and crypto. According to McLaughlin, tokenization will play an important role in determining the eventual winner of the digital money format war. Detailing his analysis during his presentation on Monday, McLaughlin identified issues …

Citigroup is reportedly considering offering crypto-related services to its customers in response to rising demand, specifically from asset managers and hedge funds. The financial services firm’s global head of foreign exchange, Itay Tuchman, told the Financial Times on Friday that the investment bank was already exploring the possibility of providing crypto services to its clients. Trading, financing and custody services are being discussed, but Tuchman said the firm would not be rushed into launching something that could worry regulators. “We shouldn’t do anything that’s not safe and sound. We will jump in when we are confident that we can build …

Banking giant Citigroup has successfully completed a proof-of-concept for blockchain-based cross-border payments in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank, or IADB. According to a Thursday announcement, Citigroup’s Citi Innovation Labs and the IADB enabled several disbursements from the United States to a recipient in the Dominican Republic, using the LACChain blockchain network — a proprietary effort by IADB’s regional program LACChain. As part of the project, the IADB deposited tokenized funds denominated in U.S. dollars in a Citi account and transferred the funds using digital wallets, IADB’s blockchain specialist and LACChain technical leader Marcos Allende explained. “After tokenized, these funds …

On March 1 cryptocurrency investors woke up to the sight of Bitcoin (BTC) rising from it weekend correction to $44,000 as the market found its bullish momentum and altcoins rebounded from their swing lows. Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView shows that the price of Bitcoin increased 16.6% from its low of $43,504 on Feb. 28 to the $50,000 level which bulls are attempting to flip back to support. Earlier in the day, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor tweeted that the firm had purchased another $15 million worth of Bitcoin, bringing its total holdings to 90,859 BTC and further demonstrating that …