Wall Street's Citi Goes Full On-Chain: Tokenized Stakes in OpenAI, Anthropic, Ripple Incoming 🚀

Citigroup is preparing to roll out trading of tokenized shares representing stakes in private companies, giving its institutional clients blockchain-based exposure to firms such as Anthropic, OpenAI, and Ripple. The initiative will operate through depositary receipts, according to a WSJ report, and is currently open only to foreign investors, with plans to extend availability to U.S. investors later.

The bank is already in discussions with some of the largest private companies about participation in the venture, which arrives as investor demand for pre-IPO exposure intensifies amid ongoing SpaceX IPO speculation. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has previously indicated that the company's IPO could happen within a year, though he signaled no urgency to go public.

Artem Korenyuk, Citigroup's Head of Enterprise Digital Asset, framed the product's appeal in practical terms, stating that the venture lets clients put private-company shares essentially right next to their Apple stock. The bank is also hoping that other Wall Street institutions will adopt a similar structure, positioning tokenized private equity as a new tradable asset class alongside traditional securities.

The move fits into Citigroup's broader tokenization push, with the bank recently filing trademark applications covering a wide range of digital asset services, including crypto trading, custody, stablecoins, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). That filing signaled an intent to build infrastructure across the full digital asset stack, from issuance to settlement.

Industry observers note that tokenization of private-company shares could reshape how pre-IPO exposure is distributed, though regulatory frameworks in the United States continue to shape the pace of adoption. For now, Citigroup's foreign institutional clients are positioned to be the first to trade these tokenized representations of some of the most closely watched private firms in technology and crypto.