According to Coindesk’s sources, Citigroup has applied for regulatory clearance to trade bitcoin futures.

Citigroup (NYSE: C) has succumbed to clients’ demand for exposure to crypto-assets and is now working on obtaining the necessary approvals to trade CME bitcoin futures, according to Coindesk, which quoted anonymous sources.

Citi: Bitcoin is the new gold

In November 2020, Thomas Fitzpatrick, a Managing Director and the global head of the award-winning CitiFXTechnicals product within the G10 FX business at Citibank, described bitcoin as the new gold in a report addressed to Citi’s (NYSE: C) institutional clients.

“Gold has restrictions such as storage, non-portable, and could possibly be even called ‘yesterday’s news’ in terms of a financial hedge,” said Fitzpatrick. “Bitcoin is the new gold.”

Citi: No FOMO on bitcoin

It may be recalled that in May, Itay Tuchman, Citi’s (NYSE: C) global head of foreign exchange told the FT that the bank was considering a foray into the cryptocurrency markets after seeing rising interest among its clients. Inquiries the bank fielded from clients included for research, on crypto trading, and financing deals using crypto holdings.

Tuchman said at the time that he had no FOMO, that crypto was here to stay, and “that we are just at the very beginning of the market.”

Citi: Crypto headhunting

Coindesk said Tuesday that according to another source, Citi was on the lookout for talent to join its crypto team in London and that the team would begin to first trade CME bitcoin futures, followed by ETNs.

Citi also clarified to Coindesk in an email that the bank was being very thoughtful about its approach because institutional clients operated under strong regulatory frameworks.

“We are presently considering products such as futures for some of our institutional clients,” the bank clarified.

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Image of Citigroup London: Flickr