Citigroup is launching a blockchain-based marketplace that will let wealthy and institutional investors trade tokenized shares of private companies, according to The Wall Street Journal. The platform will issue tokenized depositary receipts created by Citi, each representing an ownership interest in a private firm. It will open first to foreign investors, with access for the US market planned for a later stage.
Artem Korenyuk, a Citi digital asset executive, told the Journal that the structure would allow investors to hold private-company shares “right next to their Apple stock.” That matters because private equity has usually sat outside the standard brokerage setup, with ownership and transfers handled through slower and more fragmented processes. Citi’s design brings that asset class closer to a familiar trading environment.
Why Citi Is Using Depositary Receipts Instead of SPVs
Citi argues that tokenized depositary receipts offer more transparency than special-purpose vehicles, or SPVs, which have become a common route into late-stage private companies. SPVs are widely used, but they are often seen as opaque. Private-company shares are also difficult to transfer in practice, since trades may require company approval, legal review, documentation, and settlement steps that move much more slowly than public equities.
Tokenization does not remove those restrictions. The approval process and legal controls still apply. What it can do is create a cleaner digital record of ownership and make controlled secondary trading easier to administer. The report says Citi is already in discussions with several large private companies about listing shares on the platform, though no issuers have been named.
Pre-IPO Demand Is Rising as Firms Stay Private Longer
The launch comes as investor demand for pre-IPO exposure has been climbing. Large companies are staying private for longer and delaying public listings, leaving a wider gap between investor appetite and actual market access. Employees and early backers are also looking for liquidity before a company reaches the stock market.
PitchBook data summarized by the American Investment Council shows that private equity has outperformed the S&P 500 over 5-, 10-, 15-, and 20-year periods. That performance record has strengthened the case for broader access. At the same time, fintech firms including Robinhood have tested tokenized exposure to private names such as OpenAI, but those products have generally offered indirect economic exposure rather than legal ownership of the underlying shares. OpenAI warned investors last year that such tokenized stocks do not represent equity in the company.
Part of a Broader Push Into Tokenized Finance
The new marketplace adds to a series of tokenization efforts linked to Citi and other major banks. FinanceFeeds previously reported that JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo are planning a shared tokenized deposit network targeted for the first half of 2027. Citi has also projected that tokenized real-world assets could reach as much as $8.2 trillion by 2030, driven by market-infrastructure adoption, digital cash rails, and clearer US regulation.
The timing also overlaps with reports that the US Securities and Exchange Commission is considering an innovation exemption that could allow tokenized stocks to trade on crypto-native platforms outside traditional exchanges. Whether Citi’s marketplace gains a broader secondary market path will depend on how those regulatory discussions develop and how many issuers choose to participate.