Morning Minute: Citi Sets Sights on 2026 for Crypto Custody

By Tyler Warner

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. Subscribe to the Morning Minute on Substack.

GM!

Today’s top news:

• Crypto majors fall as China trade war rhetoric escalates; BTC at $111k
• Citi says it will custody crypto in 2026, evaluating a stablecoin
• BMNR passes 1M in ETH holdings; Metaplanet’s mNAV falls below 1
• Monad airdrop portal claim opens today
• MegaETH teases big week ahead (potential Fluffle / ICO sale)

🏦 Citi Sets Sights on 2026 for Crypto Custody

More and more of the biggest players in TradFi are embracing crypto.

This time, it’s the 2nd biggest bank in the U.S..

📌 What Happened

Yesterday, Citi announced plans to launch institutional crypto custody in 2026.

CNBC reported that Citi has spent 2–3 years building a custody stack and is targeting a 2026 debut aimed at asset managers and other institutions.

Phase one focuses on qualified safekeeping of digital assets for asset managers and other institutions, with bank-grade controls, segregation, and standard SLAs.

The build has been underway for years, with adjacent services (fund admin, collateral, tokenized cash rails) also on the roadmap.

In parallel, Citi is building out its digital-cash stack and evaluating a stablecoin.

🗣️ What They’re Saying

“We’re hoping that in the next few quarters, we can come to market with a credible custody solution that we can offer to our asset managers and other clients” - Citi’s Biswarup Chatterjee (global head of partnerships & innovation)

“If Citi succeeds, crypto won’t feel rebellious anymore. It’ll feel like banking. And that might be the point.” - Fast Company, on X

🧠 Why It Matters

The signals from the largest banks in the U.S. are getting clearer and louder.

Citibank is evaluating custody and services for stablecoins and their reserves (cash/T-bills), while prioritizing tokenized deposits via Citi Token Services for instant, 24/7 treasury and payments.

A Citi-issued stablecoin remains under evaluation, but the near-term emphasis is on tokenized bank money and stablecoin-reserve custody rather than minting a consumer coin on day one.

Citi is sequencing this like a bank: custody first, money rails next, issuance optional.

But assuming this. goes live in 2026 with some serious demand - expect more crypto products to come.

This is just the beginning of the TradFi crypto wave.

Buckle up…

🌎 Macro Crypto and Memes

A few Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:

• Crypto majors are red again after Monday’s brief rebound; BTC -3% at $111,400, ETH -3% at $3,980, BNB -8% at $1,190, SOL +1% at $196
• MYX (+13%), TAO (+6%) and CAKE (+2%) led top movers
• Gold hit another new ATH over $4,180 overnight
• The Bitcoin ETFs saw $326.4M in net outflows on Monday despite Blackrock’s $60M in inflows
• Citi plans to launch crypto custody in 2026, extending TradFi integration
• The “Trump insider whale” denied access to tariff news and reopened a ~$340M Bitcoin short
• Ripple funded a $200,000 “attackathon” with Immunefi to stress-test the XRP Ledger lending protocol ahead of mainnet rollout and audits
• Nigel Farage called for “sensible” U.K. crypto reform at DAS London, arguing Britain lacks a proper regulated crypto market today.
• Trade xyz launched perps access for stocks, with an index of the top 100 stocks available for trading

In Corporate Treasuries / ETFs

• Crypto 2025 ETF flows topped 2024’s total already
• BMNR shared $12.9B in total crypto + cash holdings, including 3.03M ETH at $4,154 average
• Strategy resumed buying with a $27M Bitcoin purchase at ~$123.5K, raising holdings to 640,250 BTC
• Metaplanet’s mNAV falls below 1 for first time
• Europe’s largest asset manager, Amundi, is set to launch a Bitcoin ETF

In Memes

• Memecoin leaders are very red again; DOGE -6%, Shiba -6%, PEPE -6%, PENGU -7%, BONK -4%, TRUMP -3%, SPX -10%, and FARTCOIN -8%
• The House of Doge will go public with ticker TBH through a reverse takeover with Brag House Holdings

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Here’s a rundown of major token, protocol and airdrop news from the day:

• Aster launched their ASTER airdrop yesterday with those claiming U.S.D for fees getting their allocation today
• BNB Chain and Four Meme launched a $45M Reload Airdrop for anyone trading memes on BNB over the past week
• MegaETH teased a “big week” coming, alluding to another Fluffle sale
• Monad confirmed its airdrop claim portal will go live today at 9 am ET, reminding everyone not to rush and read carefully
• Kamino boosted its protocol liquidity via Project 0 integration

🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:

• NFT leaders were mostly green again; Punks -1% at 46.4 ETH, Pudgy +2% at 7.6, BAYC +6% at 7.95 ETH; Hypurr’s -5% at 1,208 HYPE
• No notable top movers
• The Token Works team announced that new Strategies will launch at a reduced cadence and with no preannouncement (PNKSTR -14% to $114M)

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