Citi to launch blockchain-based cross-border payments for Japanese corporate clients

Citigroup is preparing to offer Japanese corporate clients an overseas remittance service built on tokenised deposits, with a launch targeted as early as this year. The bank describes the offering as a first among foreign financial institutions serving Japanese clients, with the key operational advantage being around-the-clock availability, including nights and public holidays, when conventional correspondent banking is effectively dormant.

Citi already moves approximately six trillion dollars in funds each day across its global treasury network, and its tokenised deposit activity has reached roughly one billion dollars. Deploying that infrastructure toward Japanese corporate remittances positions the bank to compete directly for treasury mandates at multinationals and large domestic firms that routinely absorb FX settlement risk during non-business hours.

The development fits a broader pattern of global transaction banks using tokenised deposit rails to erode the latency and calendar constraints of legacy correspondent banking. For Japanese corporates with significant USD or multi-currency exposures, the practical question is whether instant settlement outside business hours changes how they structure liquidity buffers and FX hedging windows. The timeline of ‘as early as this year’ leaves meaningful uncertainty about when the service enters full production.