Citi Employs Blockchain for New FX Solution

Citi has developed a new foreign exchange (FX) solution utilizing blockchain infrastructure in order to price and execute bilateral FX spot trades. According to a story in The Trade news, the current phase has tested spot FX for USD and SGD, with expectations for the underlying solution to be used for any fiat currency pair. The new application, currently available to clients, was created as part of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) ‘project guardian’ – a collaborative initiative between MAS and financial market players “seeking to test the feasibility of applications in asset tokenization and DeFi, while managing risks to financial stability and integrity”. The FX offering was developed in collaboration with T. Rowe Price Associates and Fidelity International. The on-chain solution records trade executions on a blockchain and provides real-time streaming of price quotes whilst allowing for compliance with institutional requirements and regulatory demands. The offering supports cryptographically secure record-keeping of trade data and only counterparties to a quote or trade have access to underlying trade details.